


Doctor's Wolf

by NicholasFlamelFan



Series: Shifter Saga [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: F/M, Imprinting (Twilight), Parallel Universes, Shapeshifting, Telepathic Bond, Time Travel, Wolf Pack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2019-10-18 10:45:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 44,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17579393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NicholasFlamelFan/pseuds/NicholasFlamelFan
Summary: Kaya Black is Jacob's older sister. What would happen if she was somehow thrown into the Whoniverse? She meets her imprint and gets used to the differences between the two universes. The Doctor, on the other hand, finds out that there's more to the universe than he knew and even if it didn't seem that way, he wouldn't have to be alone forever.





	1. Prologue

"Jake?" Kaya's voice echoed through the Black residence as she hurried down the stairs. Her younger brother had promised to join her in Seattle today to look for a birthday present for their father before she had to go back to Stanford on Monday. She was currently in her last semester of her double degree in mechanical and electrical engineering "Jake? Are you ready to go?"

Jacob blinked at his sister in bewilderment "Go where?"

"You promised to go to Seattle with me," Kaya pointed out, her excited smile slowly falling from her face. Why did she even try anymore? Ever since the Cullens left Jacob was completely and utterly in love with Isabella Swan, the resident vampire lover. He was so in love with her that he forgot his older sister most of the time. Kaya for her part didn't really have many friends. Not even in the pack… Since she was the only girl who ever shifted in the history of the tribe, she was the odd one out. That was one of the reasons why she had been excited to finally spend some more time with her brother. Since Kaya first turned into a wolf, she found that she absolutely hated to be alone. It got worse after her mother died when she was small but now it was practically off the charts. Most days, she didn't even feel like leaving the reservation if there was no one with her. Which was pretty bad considering that she was away from the pack and her family for most of the year. University was extremely stressful, especially since she was easily the youngest person there. Kaya had somehow finished school when she was fifteen and had gotten accepted to Stanford and MIT. Ultimately, she had chosen to go to Stanford since it was closer to home and to her father. She had just shifted before she was set to leave for her last year there… It really did make her life harder than it had to be.

Sometimes Kaya felt really guilty for not telling Jacob about their heritage but according to the Elders, he had to find out for himself. The pack was strictly need-to-know and so far only the Elders and the four wolves were aware that the legends were a bit more than legends. Sam Uley was the first to shift which automatically made him the Alpha. Then it was Jared Cameron and Paul Lahote before Kaya shifted about a month after Paul. She couldn't really remember anything but being incredibly angry and hurt before there were voices inside of her head, telling her to calm down. It turned out to be Sam… He talked the eighteen-year-old down and managed to get her to turn back. At the beginning, she hung out with them for a bit but Kaya soon found that they weren't very keen on having her around when they were doing 'boy's stuff', so she holed herself up at home or in her dorm room, only really leaving her house when the Elders scheduled a meeting or when Sam wanted her to go on patrol.

The rest of La Push thought that Sam started a cult or something and that they were all taking drugs to get so buff. It was quite funny, actually… How people would only see what they wanted to see. No one noticed the wolves howling in the forest at night…

"We talked about getting Dad something from that shop he has been talking about since Christmas," Kaya murmured.

Jake scratched the back of his neck sheepishly "Bella is coming over later on. I told her we'd hang out. Can we – I mean, how about we go tomorrow?"

The eighteen-year-old shook her head "Dad is leaving for the fishing trip tomorrow morning. And I have to go back to university on Monday. If we don't get it today, he won't get it till after his birthday." When Jacob looked about ready to apologize again, Kaya just held up her hand, grabbing her car keys from the small table by the door "Don't bother, Jacob. I'll go by myself." Just because Jake was being an ass, didn't mean that she didn't want to get her father a special something. The small shop was actually a utility store of some kind that had unique fishing gear. Billy's birthday was in two days and since he's leaving tomorrow, she wanted him to get it by then. Maybe he could use it to impress his friends. Old Quil, Harry Clearwater and Chief Swan would join the Black patriarch on his trip, so he would be with his friends for the whole weekend until Monday evening.

As she was driving away from the Res, a monstrous red truck approached the house. Kaya never really liked the truck, so she was kind of glad when her Dad decided to sell it to Chief Swan's daughter. The only thing that car was telling her was that Bella was coming to see her brother and he would forget all about the promise he broke. Paul usually called the Swan girl a leech lover which seemed to be a really fitting nickname for her. Vampires were not only extremely dangerous but their smell was nauseating to the wolves. They smelled sickly sweet, similar to what fermented fruit smelled like.

Kaya had just crossed the Forks border when said smell entered her nose. Her head snapped to the side to try and spot the vampire, while her hands jerked at the steering wheel. The car swerved and rolled over several times before coming to rest against a tree. Kaya was completely passed out in the driver's seat, the wounds on her face and leg bleeding sluggishly.

Suddenly, the area lightened up with a silver glow. A crack was forming not too far from the wreck, tendrils of silver reaching out, wrapping themselves around the eighteen-year-old's body. Just when she was about covered, there was a bright flash and the car was empty.

Far away in another world, on the other side of the ocean from the wreck, the same light appeared several feet in the air. The injured girl was dropped onto a busy London street. A taxi driver who was unlucky enough to be just under the light, stomped onto the breaks when he heard a thud if something or someone hitting the roof of his car. Outside, screams sounded when people from all around ran over to help the unconscious girl who just appeared out of nowhere. No one questioned where she came from, no one even saw the light… She was just there.


	2. Smith and Jones

Kaya was leaning against the railing of the balcony, staring out at the Earth with a pensive expression. She had been in the patient's lounge when the rain began and the hospital started shaking. She had never seen rain going up… Actually, that shouldn't have been possible at all. When the hospital moved, it had thrown her off her feet, causing the girl to land on the ground harshly. It had taken her about five minutes to get back up since her ribs were still tender from the crash. Or well, the two crashes… Apparently, even her advanced healing had its limits. The eighteen-year-old only really remembered the first crash though. The one she caused herself. Stupid leeches… Stupid brothers and stupid shifter gene. She didn't even want to be in a hospital but they refused to let her go because of her high body temperature. The Black tried to tell them that it was her normal body temperature but did they listen? No… And now she was on the Moon. In a hospital… Looking at the Earth. It was something she had never expected to see. On one hand it kind of freaked her out a little bit but then again… She had always been somewhat fascinated with space.

"We've got air," a woman's voice gasped from behind her "How does it work?"

A man answered her slowly "Just be glad it does."

"I've got a party tonight. It's my brother's twenty-first. My mother's going to be really, really…" the woman trailed off, looking at Kaya weirdly "What are you doing out here?"

The shifter glanced over at her. She was standing at the other end of the balcony "Why wouldn't I be out here?"

"Want to go back in?" the man questioned both girls.

"No way," Martha laughed "I mean, we could die any minute but all the same, it's beautiful."

The Doctor hummed, looking at the girl to his left. She looked… as if she didn't belong somehow. He didn't like looking into people's timelines but hers felt weird… He didn't even have to check it. From what the Time Lord could tell through the bruising, her face had the colour of Native Americans. What she was doing in Britain, he didn't know… Not that she had no right to be here. It was just… Odd "Do you think?" he asked, coming back on the medical student's statement.

Martha nodded "How many people want to go to the moon? And here we are."

"Standing in the Earthlight," the Time Lord sighed absentmindedly.

Kaya shuffled a bit "It puts things into perspective," she murmured, still staring at the Earth.

"What do you mean?" the Doctor asked curiously.

The shifter looked up and stiffened when her eyes met the Time Lord's. No, how was that possible? She had never really wanted an imprint and certainly not some British guy… It was everything she thought it would be though. Everything Sam had described and more… It was indescribable. Her whole world felt like it shifted, centring itself around the man across from her. Sam definitely hadn't been lying about the feeling. Kaya's inner wolf was panting happily and for the first time, it felt like she was… in control? It felt like she could let go of her anger, keep her calm until that man in front of her is in danger. The feeling was so strong that her grip on the railing tightened until her knuckles turned white. Kaya was scared that she would embarrass herself by falling down in front of the other woman – the doctor in training "Makes you feel sort of insignificant, doesn't it? I mean, what do you matter in the long run? No one will remember you anyway, so what's the point?"

Contrary to what she believed, Kaya wasn't the only one who felt the bond forming. The Doctor had to hold back a gasp when something snapped into place. There was a tiny imprint of something in the back of his mind and for the first time since his people died, he didn't feel as alone. This girl couldn't be a Time Lady though… He would have known before she looked him in the eyes. This was something else entirely and he was determined to find out what "That's a dreary outlook. Your family will remember you though."

"No. I don't think they will," Kaya smiled sadly, getting her bearings back together "Maybe my father but my brother is… Never mind. I should go back to my room."

When she was about to walk past, the Doctor's hand caught her arm "Stay?" He looked confused at his own actions but didn't remove his hand from the girl's arm.

Martha looked at both of them with a weird look on her face. She might not know them but they were acting strangely… "What do you think happened?"

"What do you think?" the Doctor questioned.

"Extraterrestrial," Martha shot back immediately "It's got to be. I don't know, a few years ago that would have sounded mad but these days? That spaceship flying into Big Ben, Christmas, those Cyberman things… I had a cousin. Adeola. She worked at Canary Wharf… She never came home." Kaya frowned at her. What was she talking about? There had never been anything like she described… She found out that it was 2007… When she had the car crash it had been 2009… Maybe that was the vampire's power? Maybe it could send someone back in time and even teleport itself? How else could she have ended up in England of all places…

"I'm sorry," the Doctor murmured, looking sadly at the medical student "I was there…" He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, squeezing Kaya's arm, that he was still holding, a little "In the battle."

The medical student looked at him determinedly "I promise you, Mister Smith, we will find a way out. If we can travel to the moon, then we can travel back. There's got to be a way."

"It's not Smith," the Time Lord pointed out "That's not my real name."

"Who are you, then?" Martha asked suspiciously.

The man grinned lightly, making the shifter's heart flutter. What a grin that was "I'm the Doctor."

"Me too," the girl laughed "If I can pass my exams. What is it then, Doctor Smith?"

"Just the Doctor," he repeated, looking down at the younger girl next to him "What's your name?"

Kaya shifted a little, carefully moving her hand from his "Kaya… Kaya Black."

"Nice to meet you, Kaya Black," the Time Lord smiled charmingly. He had no idea what caused him to act like this but a part of him… wanted to steal Kaya and take her to see the universe. How… odd. It wasn't even the feeling he had when finding a new Companion… This was a complete mystery to him. Something he didn't know yet. Maybe he would take her along though… After observing how she acted with seeing the Earth, he didn't think she would freak out. Not too much anyway.

Martha frowned in confusion at the Time Lord "People really call you the Doctor?"

"Yeah," the Doctor nodded, not looking up at her.

"Well, I'm not," the medical student scoffed "As far as I'm concerned you've got to earn that title."

The man rolled his eyes "I'd better make a start, then. Let's have a look… There must be some sort of…" He paused, throwing a small rock out as far as he could. It bounced off, revealing the shimmering of light around the building "Forcefield keeping the air in."

"How does it work?" Kaya tilted her head curiously "Wait… Never mind that. If it keeps the air in… What happens if it runs out?"

The Doctor turned to Martha "How many people in this hospital?"

"I don't know," the girl murmured "A thousand?"

"One thousand people. Suffocating."

The med student's eyes widened "Why would anyone do that?"

"Head's up," the Time Lord pointed out "Ask them yourself."

Kaya gaped at the three massive columnar spaceships that passed overhead, only to land a few meters from the entrance of the hospital "Hey, who are they?" she questioned, pointing to the marching beings that stomped out of the ships. They looked to be clad in armour and helmets… Sort of military-style marching.

"Judoon," the Doctor sighed, running a hand through his already mused up hair. He grabbed the younger girl's hand and pulled her along, careful of some of the wounds that he could see. The Time Lord froze and blinked down at the appendage he was holding "Wow… You're hot."

Kaya snorted "Why thank you," she teased, causing the Doctor to blush and stutter.

It took him several minutes to notice the amusement in the young girl's eyes and huff "Very clever… Come on, then. Let's see what they want." The three ran towards the entrance doors of the hospital, ducking behind a potted plant at the same time as the Judoon entered through the forcefield.

"Blos so folt do no cro blo cos so ro," the leader of the Judoon commanded. He had taken off his helmet to reveal a sort of two-horned rhino.

Kaya turned to the Doctor incredulously "Judoon are rhinos?"

"Rhinos… from space," the Time Lord murmured, keeping his attention on the floor below.

The other Judoon who still had their helmets on, pointed their weapons at the people who were screaming in fear, hiding behind the chairs in the waiting area. One of the medical students who had been in the Doctor's room earlier stepped forward "Er, we are citizens of planet Earth. We welcome you in peace." The leader of the Judoon pushed him against the wall, shining a blue light into his mouth "Please, don't hurt me. I was just trying to help. I'm sorry, don't hurt me. Please, don't hurt me."

The Judoon replayed a recording of the medical student, plugging the device into his armour "Language assimilated. Designation Earth English. You will be catalogued." He shone another blue light on the human's forehead "Category human." The rhino grabbed Morgenstern's hand, marking a cross on it "Catalogue all suspects." The rhinos moved out, repeating the action on all people in the area.

A man ran at one of the aliens, smashing the chair into the back of one's head. They all turned at the same time. The Chief Rhino stared at the shaking man "Witness the crime. Charge, physical assault. Plea, guilty. Sentence, execution." He pointed his weapon at the man.

Kaya was about to stand up and say something when the Doctor's wrapped his hand around her mouth, keeping her down "Shh," he hushed "Don't interfere."

"Why not?" the eighteen-year-old demanded, freeing herself.

The Doctor blinked at the question. Yes, why didn't he want to interfere? While he didn't like watching humans die but there was something… Nothing stopped him from helping others before, so why now? The Time Lord didn't want the girl to get hurt… The bond that he was feeling was thrumming, warming him from the inside. He wanted to protect her "They would kill you."

Kaya froze and looked at her Imprint in surprise "Are you trying to protect me?"

The Doctor blushed and looked everywhere but at her "Oh, look… You've got a little shop," he exclaimed, catching sight of the small alcove "I like a little shop."

"That didn't really answer my question," the Shifter grumbled.

"Never mind that," Martha snapped at the other two "What are Judoon?"

The Doctor glanced at her "They're like the police. Well, police for hire… More like interplanetary thugs."

"But we're on the moon," Kaya pointed out, seeing that she wouldn't be getting an answer anytime soon. Alright, if he wanted to play that game… So would she.

"Neutral territory," the Time Lord whispered "According to galactic law, they've got no jurisdiction over the Earth, so they isolated it. That rain, lightning? That was them, using an H2O scoop."

Martha scoffed at the man "What are you on about, galactic law? Where'd you get that from If they're police, are we under arrest? Are we trespassing on the moon or something?"

The younger girl shook her head with a puzzled frown "That can't be it, can it?" she asked the Doctor "You just said that it was neutral territory… You can't trespass on neutral territory…" She trailed off, thinking about home. The treaty with the bloodsuckers had declared Forks neutral territory with a few clauses added. We couldn't transform in the town, while they couldn't hurt any humans within the town limits.

"Good thinking," the Doctor complimented "They're making a catalogue. That means they're after something non-human, which is very bad news for me."

"Why?" the medical student frowned before her mouth dropped open "Oh, you're kidding me. Don't be ridiculous. Stop looking at me like that."

The Doctor smiled at the two girls in front of him. A part of him was hesitant about revealing himself like that but one look at Kaya reassured him. She didn't seem to care one bit about what he had just said "Come on, then." He pulled them with him down a corridor where he eventually found an admin office.

"They've reached the third floor," Martha called over her shoulder, running back into the room a little while later. The Doctor was working on a computer with his sonic, while Kaya watched with a curiously puzzled expression "What is that thing?"

"Sonic screwdriver," the Time Lord mumbled as an answer.

The medical student huffed in annoyance, crossing her arms "Well if you're not going to answer me properly…"

"No, really, it is," the Doctor stammered, waving it around in front of her face "It's a screwdriver and it's sonic… Look."

"What else have you got?" Martha blinked "A laser spanner?"

Kaya perked up, looking at the alien with a tilted head "I did…" he trailed off and shook his head "But it was stolen by Emily Pankhurst, cheeky woman."

"You met Emily Pankhurst?" the Shifter questioned "How? She died almost eighty years ago."

The Doctor winked at her "That's my secret." He turned back to the computer with an annoyed sigh "Oh, this computer. The Judoon must have locked it down. Judoon platoon upon the moon." The man whirled around again, staring at the two girls intently "Because I was just travelling past. I swear I was just wandering. I wasn't looking for trouble, honestly, I wasn't… But I noticed these plasma coils around the hospital and that lightning, that's a plasma coil. Been building up for two days now, so I checked in. I thought something was going on inside. It turned out the plasma coils were the Judoon up above."

"But what were they looking for?" Martha frowned.

Kaya rubbed her forehead, wincing at the bruise she hit. So much for advanced healing… "Since they're cataloguing humans, I think they're looking for something that isn't human?"

"Yes," the Doctor nodded empathetically "Something that looks human but isn't."

"Like you, apparently," the medical student gestured.

The Time Lord rolled his eyes. He actually preferred Kaya to Martha at this point just because the medical student seemed slightly annoying "Like me. But not me."

"Haven't they got a photo?"

"Well, might be a shape-changer," the Doctor shrugged, causing Kaya to flinch. She was a shapeshifter… Did that mean that she would register as alien too? Because after she woke up and couldn't reach her father, she looked them up… She didn't really know where she was or what happened after she crashed, so she couldn't be completely sure about it… The only things she really knew was that she was in London. In a world where alien attacks were normal… Since she never heard about anything like this happening back home, she assumed something must have happened to bring her here. On the other hand, she wasn't too sure about the whole different world idea she had. It sounded ridiculous. Especially to someone who studied Engineering. One of her professors taught her about the multiverse theory but it was a myth, wasn't it? Although… It did make sense in a way. For every major choice there had to be different outcomes. Every outcome would be in a different universe – parallel world. It was an idea but there was no actual way of proving something of that scale. Maybe Kaya could talk to the Doctor about it. He seemed to be the person to go to when it came to things like these. Maybe he could help her find a way back home… But – She shook her head. Did she really want to go home when her Imprint was here? If she really was in another world then she would have to choose between family and her Imprint. It wasn't a choice the Shifter wanted to make if she didn't have to. How could anyone make that choice?

Martha rolled her eyes, a little exasperated "Whatever it is, can't you just leave the Judoon to find it?"

"If they declare the hospital guilty of harbouring a fugitive, they'll sentence it to execution," the Doctor explained, not reacting to the medical student's tone. Maybe he didn't notice or maybe he just didn't care.

"All of us?"

Kaya looked at the Time Lord, debating on what she was going to do now. She was getting a little tired and hungry but the situation seemed to almost be at its best, so she just leaned against a nearby wall, watching the two other people in the room. The Doctor nodded at the woman "Oh, yes. If I can find this thing first. Oh!" he exclaimed, finding something on the computer "Judoon are thick. They are completely thick. They wiped the records. Oh, that's clever."

"Why is that a good thing? That means you most likely can't get the files back," the Black frowned.

The Doctor shrugged uncomfortably "Yup. Now… Just look for a patient admitted in the past week with unusual symptoms. Maybe there's a back-up."

"Just keep working," the medical student murmured "I'll go ask Mister Stoker. He might know."

As soon as she was gone, Kaya walked forward hesitatingly, not sure about her Imprint now that they were alone. What if he felt something as well? Would he call her out on it? "Do you really think you can get the back-up restored?"

"Honestly? I have no idea," the Time Lord sighed, running a hand through his hair messing it up even more "So, Kaya Black. Tell me something about you."

Kaya shifted when his gaze landed on her "Not much to tell. I'm eighteen and a college student in my last semester."

"Oh? What are you studying?"

"It's a – It's a double degree. Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering," she told him, biting her lip.

The Time Lord blinked in surprise "That's impressive. I'm sure your parents are very proud." He winced internally at the awkwardness of the situation.

Kaya lowered her eyes "My father is."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Before the Shifter could open her mouth, the Doctor let out a noise of triumph "I got it. Come on." He grabbed Kaya's arm, dragging her along. Outside the office of the doctor who was shadowed by the medical students, the two of them literally ran into Martha "I've restored the back-up."

"I found her," the medical student gasped, glancing at the office door nervously.

The Time Lord gaped "You did what?" It was then that a guy dressed completely in leather broke down the door to the office, starting towards us "Run." The three of them headed down the stairs, only to meet a platoon of Judoon coming out, so they diverted to another floor closely followed by the motorcycle man. Kaya glanced back at the person running after them, her arm still held by the Time Lord. She was barely winded, while Martha was already huffing out her breaths, sounding close to dying. The group of three ran until they reached Radiology and the Doctor sonicked the lock, closing the door behind them "When I say now, press the button."

"But I don't know which one," Martha exclaimed, calling after the Time Lord.

The Doctor rolled his eyes "Then find out." He started messing with the x-ray machine while the medical student got the Operator's Manual from the shelf and started reading. Kaya ran her hand over the control panel and quickly located a bright yellow button that was labelled. The man outside was battering on the door, managing to break it down "Now." The Shifter quickly hit the yellow button before Martha could do anything.

"What did you do?" the medical student frowned, looking at the leather-clad figure who was lying face down on the ground.

Kaya turned the machine off and looked at the Doctor with wide eyes. As soon as the radiation had flooded the other room, she had begun to feel some tingling that was quickly spreading through her body. At first, she didn't quite know what was going on but as soon as the Doctor spoke next, it all made sense "Increased the radiation by five thousand percent. Killed him dead."

"But isn't that going to kill you?" Martha questioned, sounding worried.

"Nah," the Time Lord waved off, winking at Kaya "It's only roentgen radiation. We used to play with roentgen bricks in the nursery. It's safe for you to come out. I've absorbed it all." The two girls stepped into the other room carefully. Martha because she wasn't sure what to think about the situation and Kaya because she could feel the tingling move through her body and down into her left leg. The Doctor did a weird sort of wiggling dance "All I need to do is expel it. If I concentrate I can shake the radiation out of my body and into one spot." He made a noise of triumph "It's in my left show. Here we go, here we go. Easy does it. Out, out, out, out. Ah, ah, ah, ah,. It is, it is, it is, It is hot. Hold on." After a lot more jigging about, the Doctor threw his shoe into the bin "Done."

The medical student shook her head "You're completely mad."

"You're right," the Doctor murmured, looking down at his feet "I look daft with one shoe." He quickly got rid of the other one as well "Barefoot on the moon."

Kaya shook her head, trying to keep the grin from her face "I don't think that's what she meant…"

"So, what is that thing?" Martha asked, cutting the younger girl off "And where's it from, the planet Zovirax?"

The Time Lord barely glanced at her "It's just a slab. They're called Slabs. Basic slave drones. See?" He poked the figure on the ground "Solid leather, all the way through. Someone has got one hell of a fetish."

Kaya tilted her head, crouching down to feel the lifeless body "How is that possible? If it's leather all the way through… How does it move? There are no circuits that would make it a drone, so what exactly does make it go?"

"Is that important right now?" Martha questioned, looking at the other girl in annoyance. She had already forgotten her name "It was that woman, Miss Finnegan. It was working for her, just like a servant."

The Doctor had meanwhile pulled out what was left of his sonic screwdriver out of the x-ray machine. It was completely fried, causing him to pout "My sonic screwdriver."

"She was one of the patients," Martha continued "But…"

"Oh no," the Time Lord muttered "My sonic screwdriver."

The medical student ignored him "She had a straw like some kind of vampire…"

"I loved my sonic screwdriver," the Doctor grumbled.

"Straw?" Kaya blinked, slightly weirded out "I don't know what the hell is going on but vampires have fangs… Well, technically just really, really sharp teeth."

Martha shot the Shifter another look before crossing her arms "Doctor?"

"Sorry," the Time Lord looked up, throwing the screwdriver away "You called me Doctor."

"Anyway?" the older girl drawled "Miss Finnegan is the alien. She was drinking Mister Stoker's blood."

The Doctor blinked "Funny time to take a snack. You'd think she was hiding. Unless… No. Yes, that's it! Wait a minute. Yes. Shape-changer. Internal shape-changer. She wasn't drinking his blood, she was assimilating it." By now, he was pacing up and down "If she can assimilate Mister Stoker's blood, mimic the biology, she'll register as human. We've got to find her and show the Judoon. Come on." His hand found Kaya's again. The Time Lord frowned internally. What was that? Why did he feel the need to be close to this girl? He had never felt this way before.

Outside the Pathology, Martha hid by the water dispenser with the Doctor and Kaya who was being caged in by the Time Lord. The Shifter grimaced uncomfortably, leaning against the wall, her tiredness catching up with her "Hey, there's another one of those… Slabs?" she frowned and turned to look at the Doctor "You never did tell me how they move exactly."

"I'll explain it later. Promise," the Doctor smiled before sighing "The thing about Slabs… They always travel in pairs." Kaya coughed in amusement, shaking her head when the Time Lord sent her a questioning look. Basically, the Slabs were like girls going to the bathroom. Never alone.

Martha peaked at the happenings in front of them "What about you, then?"

"What about me what?" the Doctor asked.

"Haven't you got back-up?" the medical student prodded nosily "You must have a partner or something?"

Kaya could feel a hint of sadness waving through the Imprint bond, so she reached out, squeezing the man's hand gently. The Doctor startled for a moment before he squeezed back, putting on an annoyed expression "Oh… Humans. We're stuck on the moon running out of air with Judoon and a bloodsucking criminal, you're asking personal questions? Come on…"

"I like that," Martha smiled in amusement "Humans. I'm still not convinced you're an alien."

The small group walked into a Judoon "Non-human," it announced after scanning the Doctor.

"Oh, my God… You really are," the medical student breathed in shock.

"And again," the Doctor groaned, exasperatedly. He was still holding onto Kaya's hand from where she had taken it earlier but by now it just felt nice… Holding her hand was something that almost came naturally to him. Maybe that was something to think about later. When they weren't in danger of being killed by a bunch of space rhinos. Kaya ducked when the Judoon fired its weapon, stumbling. She would have fallen if the Doctor hadn't reacted quickly enough. They ran up the stairs, onto a floor where people were slumped on the floor "They've done this floor. Come on. The Judoon are logical and just a little bit thick. They won't go back to check a floor they've checked already… If we're lucky."

Martha knelt down next to another person in scrubs "How much oxygen is there?"

The girl shook her head "Not enough for all these people," Swales explained "We're going to run out."

"How are you feeling? Are you alright?" the Doctor asked Kaya, before looking over at Martha.

The medical student shook her head "I'm running on adrenaline."

"I… I think I'm fine," Kaya murmured. She was a little dizzy but that came from running around when she should have still been resting.

"What about the Judoon?"

The Doctor shook his head "Nah, great big lung reserves. It won't slow them down… Where's Mister Stoker's office?"

Martha gestured in the direction opposite of where they had come from "It's this way."

In the office, Kaya saw a very pale body lying on the ground motionlessly "This is so freaky," she breathed. It was kind of like a vampire but not. Had it been anything like the Cullens then the man would be turning now. Not dead…

"She's gone," the medical student noted "She was here."

The Doctor crouched down next to the dead Stoker "Drained him dry. Every last drop. I was right. She's a plasmavore."

"What's she doing on Earth?" Martha frowned in confusion.

"Hiding? On the run?" the Doctor shrugged "Like Ronald Biggs in Rio de Janeiro. What's she doing now? She's still not safe. The Judoon could execute us all." He took one last look at the corpse and went back out into the corridor "Think, think, think. If I was a plasmavore surrounded by police, what would I do?" He caught sight of the sign to the MRI and dropped his head "AH. She's as clever as me. Almost."

Kaya whirled around when she heard a crash and a high pitched scream behind her. There was marching and one of the Judoon called out "Find the non-human. Execute.

"Martha," the Doctor turned to the older of the two girls urgently "Stay here. I need time. You've got to hold them up."

"How do I do that?" she asked.

The Time Lord shifted a little and looked from Kaya to Martha "Just forgive me for his. It could save a thousand lives. It means nothing. Honestly, nothing." He pulled her into a rough kiss and then turned to run, snagging Kaya on the way past. The Shifter had stiffened lightly but shook her head. He didn't know… Maybe even didn't care about the Imprint. She shouldn't read too much into this. A part of her couldn't help but wonder whether she was good enough. The Doctor wasn't human. He had likely met so many people and she was just… just an eighteen-year-old.

"Why did we stop?" Kaya questioned, looking at the flashes of light that were coming from inside the room.

The Doctor grasped the girl's shoulders "I need you to stay here. Out of sight. Can you do that for me? I don't know what's going to happen in there but I honestly don't want to put you in more danger."

"I…" Kaya broke off. She wanted – no, needed to protect her Imprint but he was right. This was something she couldn't help with. As much as she hated it, she backed off "Alright. I'll stay out of the way."

"Thank you," the Time Lord smiled, squeezing Kaya's shoulders lightly "How about when all of this is over… You come with me? Travel a little?"

The Shifter froze "You want me to come with you?"

"Why now?" the Doctor questioned "You're obviously smart and have a good head on your shoulders. Plus, I believe there's something we have to talk about."

"I – Okay," she murmured, looking down. The Time Lord gave her one last smile before bursting through the doors to the MRI. Kaya leaned against the wall behind her, sliding down. She was a little scared about what the Doctor would do when he found out about the Imprint. Would he hate her? Send her away? She couldn't see anyone accepting this bond. Especially, since it was something that was done without his approval. Not that she had any control over it either but that was just something she had to live with. The more time passed, the more the girl's eyes dropped until everything around her went black.

A little while later, the Doctor gasps for air, looking around in confusion. It took him a moment before he remembered what was going on "The scanner," Martha mumbled, her body slowly going limp "She did something."

The Doctor looked at the scanner and carefully crawled towards the controls "Soddit," he cursed when he realized that his sonic was fried. Instead, he pulled apart the cables that the plasmavore had plugged together, turning the scanner off. Kaya. Where was she? The Time Lord stumbled from the room after quickly checking to make sure that Martha was alright. He fell to his knees next to the black haired girl who was slumped against the wall opposite of the door "Come on. Please… Be alright?" He tugged a strand of the girl's hair behind her ear and sighed. With a quiet groan, he got up, lifting the Shifter into his arms towards one of the windows. The Doctor carefully put her down on the windowsill and went back to get Martha. As soon as he was back, he went to stand next to Kaya, pulling her against his chest "Come on, come on, come on, please. Come on, Judoon, reverse it." He let out a breath of relief when it started to rain "It's raining, Kaya. It's raining on the moon." A crash of thunder and a big flash later, the hospital was back where it should be.

A little while later, when the people were being taken to other hospitals, the Doctor snuck back to the Tardis, supporting a now awake Kaya. The Shifter looked at the police box in confusion but when the two of them went inside, the confusion turned to awe "This is amazing," she murmured, looking around "I never thought something like this actually existed. It's dimensionally transcendental, right?"

The Doctor, who had been expecting the normal 'It's bigger on the inside' gaped at the girl in shock "What? How?"

"Sorry," Kaya apologized quickly "Was I… Did I get it wrong? I got into Sci-Fi in college and that was the most obvious explanation."

"No, no," the Time Lord shook his head, helping her over to the jump seat "Actually, that's spot on. It's just… Normally people have another reaction."

The Shifter tilted her head "Let me guess… It's bigger on the inside?"

"Exactly," the Doctor nodded, happy that he still got to hear the normal phrase "Let's get her into the Vortex. I'll explain everything later. After a little visit to the medbay." Kaya sighed, leaning back while the Doctor messed with something on the console. She took the time to really look around. The room was huge with corals all around and grating on the floor. The console was radiating a green light. All in all, it was beautiful. Behind her, there were stairs going to a second level with several corridors branching off.


	3. Shakespeare Code

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since most of the people on Fanfiction seem to prefer full Episodes per chapter, here is the full chapter of Shakespeare Code. The first part is the one you know along with the rest of the Episode.
> 
> I hope you'll like it...
> 
> Enjoy,
> 
> Nick

 

Kaya was standing in the console room with the Doctor and Martha. She wasn't sure when the Doctor had picked the medical student up but she knew that he would. They talked after she woke up again and the Time Lord mentioned the bond. The fact that he felt the Imprint, to begin with, was a bit startling for the Shifter but she made a deal with him.

_Flashback_

" _So, I take it you know what that bond is?" the Doctor spoke up after settling Kaya on one of the beds in the medbay._

_Kaya bit her lip uncertainly "Maybe."_

_The Time Lord looked at her seriously "But you're not going to tell me."_

" _I just… I don't want you to hate me," the Shifter murmured "I only just met you and… I don't want this to…"_

" _Relax," the Doctor soothed, placing his hand on the girl's shoulder "Just tell me one thing… Is it dangerous?"_

_Kaya's head snapped up immediately "No," she exclaimed, shaking her head harshly "No. It's not."_

" _Good," the Doctor nodded "I thought so but I needed to be sure. This is something I have never seen or heard about before, so I hope you forgive me for being a bit… wary."_

_The eighteen-year-old nodded "I…" She didn't know what to do. She knew that she should tell him but so far it had never done anything good for her. Her pack hated her, her brother just threw her away for the most part and not even her sisters cared for her anymore. This was easily the best thing that happened to her in ages and she didn't want to lose it just because she was a Shapeshifter._

" _Hm," the Doctor tilted his head, sending the girl a small smile. He could sense that she was being truthful and her posture practically screamed that she was scared. The Time Lord would give her the benefit of a doubt for the time being but maybe they could… "I'll just have to keep guessing then, won't I?"_

_Kaya blinked at him "What are you trying to say?" she questioned quietly._

" _A game," the Time Lord shrugged "How about we make this a game. A bet, if you will. If I can find out what the bond is I get a prize. And you're not allowed to tell me until I get it right."_

" _So that's it?" the Shifter frowned. It couldn't be this simple, could it? The Doctor couldn't really be this nice and let her tell him at her own pace? After all, she knew that it was unfair… The bond had something to do with him after all "You're not going to demand that I tell you why there is a bond between us?"_

_The Doctor shrugged "Come on," he grinned "It'll be fun."_

" _O – Okay?" Kaya nodded "If – If you're sure."_

" _I am."_

_End Flashback_

The Shifter tightened her grip on the railing, trying not to fall. Martha was looking around in amazement, ignoring the other girl. The medical student was a little annoyed that Kaya didn't get a limitation. What was so special about her? The Doctor kissed Martha, not the other girl… That had to count for something, right? "But how do you travel in time? What makes it go?"

"Oh, let's take the fun and mystery out of everything. Martha, you don't want to know," the Doctor told her knowingly "It just does. Hold on tight."

The Tardis came to a halt and the shaking stopped. Kaya cautiously straightened up, looking up at the Doctor "So, where are we?"

Before he could answer, Martha groaned from the floor "Blimey. Do you have to pass a test to fly this thing?"

"Yes," the Time Lord shot back, sighing at the older of the two girls "And I failed. Now, make the most of it. I promised you one trip and one trip only." He turned to Kaya "Outside this door, brave new world." Kaya grinned, trying to hide her excitement. She was in a different time… Honestly, it was everything that a Sci-fi fan could wish for and more. It was crazy to think that time travel was actually real but to experience first hand? It held something forbidden, something dangerous but at the same time exciting. Then again… Kaya didn't know whether it actually worked but a part of her knew it did. After the knowledge, the Doctor had shown when dealing with the… the vampire thingy and the Judoon, she could believe that the Tardis really was a spaceship.

"Where are we?" Martha questioned excitedly.

The Doctor stood in front of the door "Take a look," he smiled, opening the door "After you."

Outside really was a whole new world. Kaya looked around with interest shining in her expression. It sort of looked like one of those fairs that are set during the middle ages… Not that she had ever been to one but she heard some of her classmates talk about them. There was washing hanging on lines below the overhanging eaves and straw littering the ground everywhere.

Martha gasped in shock and surprise "Oh, you are kidding me. You are so kidding me. Oh, my God, we did it. We travelled in time. Where are we?" The older girl stopped herself, shaking her head "No, sorry. I got to get used to this whole new language. When are we?"

"Mind out," the Doctor called, pulling both girls back against the Tardis as a man emptied out his slop bucket from one of the upstairs windows. He grimaced sheepishly "Somewhere before the invention of the toilet… Are you alright?" The last part was directed to Kaya who had started sneezing almost as soon as the man emptied the bucket.

The Shifter held a hand to her nose in annoyance, trying to get rid of the burning smell that tickled her nostrils "I –" The rest of her sentence was once again lost to sneezing.

"Come on," the Doctor grinned, holding out his hand to Kaya. He had no idea what caused her to start sneezing but he couldn't help but find it somewhat amusing… Amusing and endearing at the same time "Better?"

Kaya rubbed at her nose when the tingling finally stopped. She hadn't even been able to enjoy her Imprint's touch. No, she just had to sneeze out her brains… "Sorry," she muttered in embarrassment "I'm – My nose is kinda sensitive."

The Time Lord shook his head "Don't worry. I expected some form of awe… Didn't quite expect you to have a sneezing fit."

"Wait," Martha cut in. She was staring at the younger girl in slight annoyance. Kaya had stopped her from asking the Doctor more questions with what she had mentally classed as attention seeking. A sensitive nose wouldn't cause that much of a scene… Of that Martha was sure "Are we safe?" she asked the Doctor "I mean, can we move around and stuff?"

"Of course we can," the Time Lord shrugged "Why do you ask?"

The medical student shifted with a sheepish shrug "It's like in the films. You step on a butterfly, you change the future of the human race."

Kaya raised her eyebrow at the other girl the same time the Doctor did "Tell you what then. Don't step on any butterflied." He whirled around and started walking "What have butterflies ever done to you?"

"What if – I don't know – what if I kill my grandfather?" Martha asked.

"Are you… Are you planning on killing anyone?" Kaya frowned in confusion "Because if you're not… Why ask?"

The Doctor clapped his hands "Well, then."

Martha looked around "And this is London?"

"I think so," the Time Lord shifted uncertainly "Round about 1599."

He was about to lead us further through the crowd of people when Martha stopped him once again "Oh, but hold on. Am I alright? I'm not going to get carted off as a slave, am I?"

"Why would they do that?" the Doctor blinked, completely flabbergasted.

The medical student pointed to her face "Not exactly white, in case you haven't noticed."

"Neither am I," Kaya spoke up "And… neither is that woman." She pointed to a pair of women walking next to each other with baskets "She seems to be doing alright."

Martha raised her eyebrow "How are you not white?"

"Really?" the Shifter frowned, not understanding the other girl's problem. She's been trying to get the attention off of the eighteen-year-old for the whole time she had been with them "I'm Native American."

The Doctor looked from one girl to the other, already apprehensive about them fighting. He really didn't need another Rose, Sarah Jane situation. Especially not with the people actually travelling with him "I'm not even human," he pointed out with a crooked grin "Just walk about like you own the place. Works for me." It was funny how the Time Lord hadn't even noticed that he thought about Rose without it hurting him. He still missed her a lot but his mind was focussed on the riddle that was Kaya and the bond that was humming in the back of his head "Besides, you'd be surprised. Elizabethan England, not so different from your time. Look over there." He pointed to a man shovelling horse manure into a bucket "They've got recycling." To two men talking at a water barrel "Water cooler moment."

"And the world will be consumed by flame," a preacher was crying out, his hands held out at his sides.

When the three travellers walked past him, the Doctor grinned "Global warming." He looked around, trying to figure out where they were exactly "Oh, yes, and entertainment. Popular entertainment for the masses. If I'm right, we're just down the river by Southwark, right next to…" The Doctor grabbed Kaya's hand and pulled her along, getting Martha to run after them past Southwark Cathedral to a view of… "Oh, yes. The Globe Theatre. Brand new. Just opened. Though, strictly speaking, it's not a globe, it's a tetradecagon. Fourteen sides. Containing the man himself."

"Whoa," Martha breathed, her wide eyes focussed on the building "You don't mean… Is Shakespeare in there?"

"Oh, yes. Miss Black, Miss Jones, will you accompany me to the theatre?" the Time Lord asked, holding out his arms for both girls to take.

Martha grabbed a hold immediately, leaning against his side "Mister Smith, I will."

Kaya hesitated for a moment, not really sure whether she should say something about her lack of understanding concerning Shakespeare's works but in the end, she just took his arm, happy to be here to see a different time from her own. It didn't really matter who they were going to see. She was just excited to see someone who had died long before she was even born.

"When you get home, you can tell everyone you've seen Shakespeare," the Doctor pointed out with a grin. The small smile that had been on Kaya's face fell as she thought about her family. She would have to talk to the Doctor later to find out his viewpoint on her theory. It was ludicrous to some extent but the limited research she had been able to do proved her idea of the multiverse theory. She didn't really have a chance to mention it earlier.

Martha shot the Time Lord a deadpan look "Then I could get sanctioned."

About two and a half hours later, the performance had just finished and while Kaya had somewhat understood what was going on, she barely understood anything they were saying. Not that it wasn't normal for her. Her English teacher was the worst, so it was no real surprise that she never really got into reading classic literature. The Shifter had always been good at everything to do with Maths and Science, so choosing her majors had been relatively easy.

"That's amazing," Martha laughed happily "Just amazing. It's worth putting up with the smell." While Kaya didn't think so, she kept quiet. Not everyone had better senses than normal humans. Especially in this time "And those are men dressed as women, yeah?"

The Doctor snorted "London never changes."

"It's not just London," Kaya pointed out "LA is worse. I think all bigger cities are like that."

"Where's Shakespeare?" the medical student frowned, craning her neck "I want to see Shakespeare. Author! Author! Do people shout that? Do they shout Author?"

Behind us, one of the men started shouting "Author! Author!"

The Doctor tugged at his ear as the whole crowd took up the chant "Well," he sighed "They do now."

On stage, the door opened and a relatively young Shakespeare came out, obviously very full of himself. Martha let out a low whistle "He's a bit different from his portraits."

"Genius," the Doctor shook his head in amazement "He's a genius. The Genius. The most human human there's ever been. Now we're going to hear him speak. Always chooses the best words. New, beautiful, brilliant words."

Shakespeare threw out his arm, silencing the crowd for a moment "Ah, shut your big fat mouths." The people roared with laughter as Kaya flinched a little at the sheer volume of them.

"Oh, well," the Time Lord hung his head.

Kaya tilted her head up "Never meet your heroes. Meeting your heroes is setting yourself up for…"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow "Are you always that pessimistic?"

"It's not pessimism," the Shifter mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You've got excellent taste," Shakespeare called loudly "I'll give you that." He pointed to a man in the front row "Oh, that's a wig. I know what you're all saying. Loves Labour's Lost, that's a funny ending, isn't it? It just stops. Will the boys get the girls? Well, don't get your hose in a tangle, you'll find out soon. Yeah, yeah. All in good time. You don't rush a genius." The man on stage suddenly stiffened and his face went blank "When? Tomorrow night. The premiere of my bran new play. A sequel, no less, and I call it Loves Labour's Won."

A short while later, everyone is filling out of the theatre. Kaya tried to stay as close to the Doctor as possible, hopeful that she wouldn't lose him in the crowd. The Time Lord wrapped an arm around Kaya's shoulders "So, what did you think?"

"I – I don't like Shakespeare much," the eighteen-year-old mumbled.

"You don't?" the Doctor questioned, his expression falling.

Kaya shrugged "My English teacher was an ass. He made me hate most of the classical literature just because of the way he was teaching."

"You say classical literature," the Time Lord realized "Who is your favourite author?"

"When I was in school I had the biggest crush on Jonathan Stroud," the Shifter admitted with a small blush "His stories are amazing and so – so real." She tilted her head "Can we go and see him some time?"

The Doctor had stiffened as soon as he heard the word crush. He had no idea why he was reacting the way he was… But somehow the thought of Kaya having a crush on anyone made his insides bubble with jealousy. The Time Lord huffed internally. He really had to find out what that bond was and whether it was worth getting his hopes up "Sorry, no," he shook his head "You can't visit the same place twice and I already met Stroud." He was lying through his teeth but he didn't want her to know his real reasons.

"Oh. Alright," Kaya smiled, hiding her disappointment. This wasn't necessarily the most important wish to her but it would have been nice to meet her childhood favourite.

Martha looked over her shoulder, noticing that the other two had stopped walking "I'm not an expert… But I've never heard of Lover Labour's Won."

"Exactly," the Doctor nodded, shoving the thoughts of jealousy out of his mind "The lost play. It doesn't exist, only in rumours. It's mentioned in lists of his plays but never ever turns up. And no one knows why."

The medical student grinned "Have you got a mini-disc or something? We can tape it. We can flog it. Sell it when we get home and make a mint."

"No," the Doctor snapped.

Martha winced at the tone of his voice, realizing her mistake immediately. Even if she didn't actually mean it "That would be bad."

"Yeah… Yeah."

Kaya looked at the Doctor "Hey, do you know how it disappeared in the first place? I mean… A whole play doesn't just vanish, does it?"

"Well," the Time Lord drawled and looked down to Martha "I was just going to give you a quick little trip in the Tardis but I suppose we could stay a bit longer." He lead the two girls to where he knew Shakespeare was staying, at The Elephant. When he asked where he could find the Bard, he was directed upstairs "Hello," the Doctor smiled, sticking his head through the door "Excuse me, not interrupting, am I? Mister Shakespeare, isn't it?"

Shakespeare groaned "Oh, no. No, no, no. Who let you in?" he demanded "No autographs. No, you can't have yourself sketched with me and please don't ask where I get my ideas from." Kaya scoffed at his ego, her mind flashing to Paul who acted in a very similar way. The thought of her fellow shifter caused the girl to wince internally "Thanks for the interest. Now be a good boy and shove…" His gaze caught both girls behind the Doctor and he blinked. The dark-skinned girl was good looking but the other one? She was a rare, quiet beauty. It was obvious to him on the first glance "Hey, nonny nonny. Sit down here next to me." Shakespeare looked to his two actors "You two, get sewing on them costumes. Off you go."

Dolly shook her head with a grin, patting the men's shoulders "Come on, lads. I think our William's found his new muses."

Shakespeare smiled at Kaya charmingly "Sweet lady." As Dolly left with both Burbage and Kempe, the three travellers sat down "Such unusual clothes. So fitted." Kaya shifted uncomfortably, really not used to anyone flirting with her. She didn't like the man's attention and while it had been great to see such a famous author alive, she didn't enjoy being treated like a piece of meat. Especially not since she found her Imprint…

The Doctor noticed her uneasiness and pulled out his psychic paper "I'm Sir Doctor of Tardis and these are my Companions, Miss Kaya Black and Miss Martha Jones."

"Interesting," Shakespeare mused, turning his attention away from the girl to the Doctor's right. He had seen that his comments made her uncomfortable, so he decided that it was good to leave her alone. After all, she seemed to have a protector in the Sir Doctor "That bit of paper… It's blank."

"Oh, that's very clever," the Doctor grinned "That proves it. Absolute genius."

Martha frowned at the piece of paper in confusion "No, it says so right there. Sir Doctor, Kaya Black, Martha Jones. It says so."

"And I say it's blank," Shakespeare shrugged.

The Doctor scratched his head "Psychic paper. Er… Long story. Oh, I hate starting from scratch." He glanced to Kaya, tilting his head "What do you see?"

Kaya furrowed her forehead, looking at the paper in the Doctor's hand "Is it supposed to be this blurry?" she asked, rubbing at her eyes.

"Can you read it?"

"No," the Shifter shook her head "It's kinda… Too faded, I guess?"

The Doctor looked at the younger girl curiously "You seem to have some psychic abilities," he mused, thinking about whether that might actually be the reason for the bond. But that wouldn't be able to explain it either. Or at least it shouldn't…

"Psychic?" Shakespeare spoke up, his head tilted to the side "Never head that before and words are my trade. Who are you exactly? More's the point… Who is your delicious blackamoor lady?" The last question caused a wink in Martha's direction.

Martha gaped "What did you say?"

The Bard shrugged with a small grin "Oops? Isn't that a word we use nowadays? An Ethiop girl? A swarth? A Queen of Afric?"

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," the medical student shook her head. While she was slightly insulted by what the Bard called her, she was quite happy that he chose her over Kaya. It was petty, Martha knew that, but she couldn't help but be jealous of the girl who held the Doctor's attention. And she didn't even know why he was so fascinated with her.

The Doctor waved his hand in her direction, putting the psychic paper back into his pocket "It's political correctness gone mad." He turned to look at Shakespeare "Er, Martha and Kaya are from a far-off land. Freedonia."

As soon as the words left his mouth, a man in expensive clothing stormed into the room. Kaya tilted her head, studying the golden chain he was wearing. What did that say on it? Something about office? She wasn't too sure but maybe it would be revealed "Excuse me," the man demanded "Hold hard a moment. This is abominable behaviour. A new play with no warning? I demand to see a script, Mister Shakespeare. As Master of the Revels, every new script must be registered at my office and examined by me before it can be performed."

Shakespeare sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose "Tomorrow morning, first thing, I'll send it round."

"I don't work to your schedule," Lynley narrowed his eyes "You work to mine. The script. Now!"

"I can't," the Bard pointed out.

"Then tomorrow's performance is cancelled," the man shot back. He turned around, barely missing the maid that left the room "I'm returning to my office for a banning order. If it's the last thing I do, Love's Labour's Won will never be played." He left immediately.

Kaya shook her head and scoffed "Well, he was full of himself." When every eye in the room turned to her, she lowered her head with a blush "Sorry."

"No, no," Shakespeare shook his head dismissively "He rather is, isn't he? Men in a position of power always seem to turn out arrogant."

The Shifter tilted her head. She was getting more confident just by being accepted but even then, Kaya was sure that she would regret speaking so freely. No one had appreciated her sharp tongue before. That was the reason why she didn't like being around people much anymore. She had gotten in so much trouble with Sam for the fights that Paul had started and it had been just so unfair "Like you, you mean?"

Shakespeare leaned his head back, letting out an amused laugh "Oh, I do like you."

"Thank you," Kaya murmured, looking down at her lap. The Doctor looked like he was trying to think of something to say to get Shakespeare to stop but the Bard's next words made him stop short. He had pecked the Native American girl after only speaking with the three for fifteen minutes.

The Bard shook his head "No, no, no. Don't look down. A woman such as you should never look down."

"Well then," Martha spoke up, shaking her head "That's Love's Labour's Won over and done with. Thought it might be something more – you know – more mysterious."

A man's scream came from the street, followed closely by a woman's. The Doctor pulled up Kaya with him, tugging her out of the door and outside "Help me," a woman cried out helplessly.

When the group of four saw Lynley staggering around, spewing copious amounts of water out of his mouth they stopped short. Martha blinked "It's that Lynley bloke…"

"What's wrong with him?" the Doctor tilted his head in confusion "Leave it to me. I'm a doctor."

Martha shoved forward "So am I," she proclaimed proudly "Near enough." She leapt a step back when the expensively dressed man collapsed. Martha fell to her knees next to him, quickly checking him over "Got to get the heart going. Mister Lynley, come on. Can you hear me? You're going to be alright." The medical student started to clear the man's airways but paused when water started gushing out "What the hell is that?"

"I've never seen a death like it," the Doctor remarked quietly "His lungs are full of water. He drowned and then, I don't know, like a blow to the heart, an invisible blow." The Time Lord grabbed a hold of Dolly's shoulders "Good mistress, this poor fellow has died from a sudden imbalance of the humours. A natural if unfortunate demise. Call a constable and have him taken away."

Dolly glanced at the dead body uncomfortably "Yes, sir," she nodded.

"I'll do it, ma'am," the maid from earlier nodded, turning around to walk away.

Martha straightened and stared at the Doctor incredulously "And why are you telling them that?"

"This lot still have got one foot in the Dark Ages," the Time Lord gestured "If I tell them the truth, they'll panic and think it was witchcraft."

"If it's not… What is it then?" Kaya frowned up at him.

The Doctor sent her a huge grin "Witchcraft."

Kaya snorted, shaking her head "Of course… But seriously." Her toned quieted down some more "Do you think it's actually witchcraft?"

"What's magic but science," the Time Lord shrugged "I think they might use science like magic… You're an engineer. You should know that some of the things you can do seem like magic."

"So, you think it's… What? Aliens?"

The Doctor shrugged "Most likely but to be completely honest? I'm a little out of my depth here."

Kaya smiled teasingly "I have a feeling that you don't say that often."

"I don't," the Time Lord shook his head mournfully "I actually like this you. Why are you hiding yourself so much?"

"I – I'm not," the Shifter shrugged, looking to the side.

The Doctor sighed before tugging at her arm "Come on. Let's get back inside."

"I got a room for you, Sir Doctor," Dolly spoke up, blocking them from entering Shakespeare's room for a moment "You, Miss Jones and Miss Black are just across the landing."

"Thank you," Kaya smiled when the Doctor just nodded.

Shakespeare sighed as soon as the two joined him, Martha already back to sitting in the chair she had occupied earlier. She rather enjoyed being wooed by the playwright. It made her feel special in a way… Even if he seemed like a playboy "Poor Lynley," the Bard mumbled "So many strange events. Not least of all, this land of Freedonia where a woman can be a doctor? What do you do, Miss Black?"

Kaya shot a panicked look to the Doctor who smiled lightly "Kaya is training to become an inventor."

"Where a woman can do whatever she likes," Shakespeare mused "And you, Sir Doctor. How can a man so young have eyes so old?"

The Time Lord shot him a look "I do a lot of reading."

"A trite reply," Shakespeare laughed "Yeah, that's what I'd do." He turned his eyes to Martha once again "And you look at him like you're surprised he exists. He's as much of a puzzle to you as he is to me."

Martha looked uncomfortable with the assessment "I think we should say goodnight," she muttered, walking out of the room without looking at anyone else.

"It's interesting because you…" The brown eyes locked Kaya in her place "You just accept him. It is almost like something is binding you together. You two are always close… What can cause such a thing?"

The Shifter swallowed uncomfortably "I…"

Shakespeare shook his head "I must work. I have a play to complete. But I'll get my answers tomorrow, Doctor. And I'll discover more about you and this constant performance of yours, Kaya."

"All the world's a stage," the Doctor muttered.

"Hmm," Shakespeare hummed "I might use that. Goodnight, Doctor, Kaya."

The Time Lord nodded, lost in thoughts "Nighty night, Shakespeare."

"Night," Kaya mumbled, escaping the room as quickly as she could. She entered the room that Dolly had given them to see Martha standing in the middle with a candle in hand. The eighteen-year-old skirted past the medical student, sitting down on the window sill.

Martha looked at the girl for a moment before she shook her head "It's not exactly five stars, is it?"

"Oh, it'll do," the Doctor shrugged, his gaze on the curled up form by the window. He didn't know how much impact the Bard's words had on the Shifter but he knew how he was feeling and if that was any indication, he would leave her to her thoughts for as long as she needed "I've seen worse."

"I haven't even got a toothbrush," the medical student complained.

"Oh… Er…" the Doctor patted his pockets before pulling one out of his pocket "Contains Venusian spearmint."

Martha took it gingerly "So, who's going where? I mean, there's only one bed."

"Kaya?" the Time Lord asked.

"Hm? Oh, I'm not tired," the Shifter said without turning around. She was staring out into the quiet street, her mind wandering.

"We'll manage, then," the Time Lord shrugged, throwing himself onto one side of the bed "Come on."

Martha looked from the man on the bed to the girl and back. She was getting a lot of mixed signals here but… Better for her, eh? Maybe that meant that she still had a chance "So, magic and stuff?" the medical student spoke up "That's a surprise. It's all a bit Harry Potter."

"Wait till you read book seven," the Doctor gushed "Oh, I cried."

"But is it real, though?" Martha asked "I mean, witches, black magic and all that, it's real?"

The Time Lord rolled his eyes "Course it isn't."

Martha huffed "Well, how am I supposed to know? I've only just started believing in time travel. Give me a break."

"Looks like witchcraft but it isn't," the Doctor mused thoughtfully, his face scrunching up "Can't be." He looked up at Martha with a raised eyebrow "Are you going to stand there all night?"

"Budge up a bit, then," the medical student pointed out, a biting tone to her voice that made Kaya look over to them with narrowed eyes "Sorry, there's not much room. Us two here… Same bed…" She shot a winning look at the Shifter by the window who just rolled her eyes, turning back to the street below.

The Doctor didn't notice the exchange between his two Companions since he was staring at the ceiling "There's such a thing as psychic energy but a human couldn't channel it like that. Not without a generator the size of Taunton and I think we'd have spotted that." He shook his head with a sigh "No, there's something I'm missing. Something really close, staring me right in the face and I can't see it." A thought entered his mind and he couldn't help but voice it "Rose would know. A friend of mine, Rose. Right now, she's say exactly the right thing." The Doctor looked over his shoulder at Kaya. The bond had spiked for a moment but settled just as quickly. He couldn't see her face but she seemed sad. Something was going on with the younger girl and he would be damned if he didn't find out "You're a novice, never mind. I'll take you back home tomorrow, Martha."

Martha turned to her other side, back facing the Doctor angrily "Great." She blew out the candle, settling down on the uncomfortable mattress.

The Doctor waited until Martha's breathing slowed down and she was asleep before turning to look at Kaya "Are you sure that you don't want the bed?" he asked.

"Yeah. It's fine," the Shifter mumbled "I'm used to sleeping rough."

"What do you mean?" the Time Lord asked, his face set in a frown.

Kaya shrugged "Nothing. Forget I said anything." She closed her eyes, curling up into a tighter ball. She was used to sleeping rough thanks to Sam making her go on patrols sometimes for days on end. The eighteen-year-old had taken to come back to the Rez on weekends and was often out from the time she came home to the time she had to leave again. She was sure that it had been Paul's idea. The other wolf had probably complained to their alpha until he agreed.

Kaya was almost asleep when a scream ripped through the silence. She jerked up, almost falling from the window sill at the movement. She ran after the Doctor, Martha following behind quickly. As soon as they entered Shakespeare's room, the Doctor fell to his knees next to the body on the ground "Her heart gave out," he breathed "She died of fright."

Martha ran to the window, gaping at the figure of a witch flying away "Doctor?"

"What did you see?" the Time Lord questioned, looking up at her shocked expression.

"A witch," the medical student murmured.

Kaya tilted her head at the other girl. A witch? Oh well, who was she to deny the existence of anything? As a Shapeshifter, you really weren't able to deny a lot of things anymore. No matter how unbelievable it actually was… After all, the eighteen-year-old was able to turn into a huge wolf… Not quite as huge as the others but compared to her normal height, the wolf was bigger. Kaya guessed that if she stood beside her wolf, he would just about reach her upper chest, a little shy of her shoulders.

A little while later, a cockerel crowed outside and dogs barked as the sun started rising. Shakespeare had buried his head in his hands "Oh, sweet Dolly Bailey," he sighed "She sat out three bouts of plague in this place when we all ran like rats. But what could have scared her so? She had such enormous spirit…"

The Doctor sighed, his elbows resting on the table "Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

"I might use that," Will blinked, liking the small phrases he was getting from the Doctor occasionally.

"You can't," the Time Lord shook his head "It's someone else's."

Martha rolled her eyes at the two men, turning her eyes to Shakespeare "But the thing is, Lynley drowned on dry land, Dolly died of fright and they were both connected to you."

"You're accusing me?" Will questioned, his eyebrows raised.

"I don't think she is," Kaya spoke up, biting her lip when all eyes turned to her. The Doctor's eyes darted down to the eighteen-year-old's lips before forcing them back up to her eyes. He really had to find out about this bond. It was driving him crazy but he enjoyed the challenge of trying to find out what it was "There was something in the room – whether it was an actual witch or not – and it was after you…"

Martha nodded "Yes. And you've written about witches before…"

"I have?" Will frowned in confusion, his mind putting one more piece to the puzzle that the group of three proved to be "When was that?"

The Doctor winced "Not… Not quite yet."

"Peter Street spoke of witches," the Bard pointed out.

"Who's Peter Street?" the medical student blinked.

Will shrugged "Our builder. He sketched the plans to the Globe."

"The architect," the Doctor mumbled, his head snapping up "Hold on. The architect. The architect. The Globe. Come on." He ran out of the room excitedly. This was exactly what he had been missing. The architect…

It took them very little time to reach the theatre since not a lot of people were around yet. Inside, the Doctor jumped onto the stage, critically mustering the walls "The columns there, right? Fourteen sides. I've always wondered but I never asked. Tell me, Will. Why fourteen sides?"

The Bard looked up at the curious man and shrugged "It was the shape Peter Streete thought best, that's all." He sat down on the edge of the stage, leaning back onto his hands "Said it carried the sound well."

"Fourteen," the Time Lord frowned "Why does that ring a bell? Fourteen?"

Martha glanced over at him "There's fourteen lines in a sonnet."

"So there is," he hummed "Good point." With that, Martha shot Kaya a triumphant look. This was a competition and so far, the medical student was definitely winning. At least, in her eyes she was. The younger girl didn't even like Shakespeare… Martha really didn't understand why the Doctor took her along. Maybe it was pity? She looked back at the Time Lord when he continued talking "Words and shapes, following the same design. Fourteen lines, fourteen sides, fourteen facets. Oh, my head." He was hitting himself repeatedly, pacing up and down "Tetradecagon. Think, think, think. Words, letters, numbers, lines."

Shakespeare blinked "This is just a theatre," he pointed out.

"Oh yeah," the Doctor challenged "But a theatre's magic, isn't it? You should know. Stand on this stage, say the right words with the right emphasis at the right time. Oh, you can make men weep or cry with joy. Change them." He inhaled sharply "You can change people's minds just with words in this place… But if you exaggerate that."

Kaya hummed "A bit like the Tardis, no? She's so small on the outside with everything else just… inside."

"Oh," the Doctor murmured "Oh, I like you. Tell you what, though. Peter Streete would know. Can I talk to him?"

Will shifted a little "You won't get an answer. A month after finishing this place, lost his mind."

"Why?" Martha questioned "What happened?"

"Started raving about witches, hearing voice, babbling," the Bard explained "His mind was addled."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes "Where is he now?"

"Bedlam," Will answered.

Martha tilted her head "What's Bedlam?"

"Bethlem Hospital," the Bard explained "The madhouse."

"We're going there," the Doctor said in a strong voice. He didn't care that he had to go to a madhouse or anything. It was the fact that Will would do something like this to a friend. While he had never been to Bedlam before, he could guess how people were treated there "Right now. Come on."

"Wait," Will called out when the Time Lord walked away with the two girls following behind "I'm coming with you. I want to witness this first hand." As he walked out, two of his actors entered "Ralph, the last scene as promised. Copy it, hand it round, learn it, speak it. Back before curtain up. And remember, kid, project. Eyes and teeth. You never know, the Queen might turn up." Will walked away, shaking his head "As if… She never does."

Kaya walked along next to the Doctor, trying and failing to muffled her yawns. The Time Lord glanced down at her "Are you alright?"

"Fine," the Shifter nodded "Again. I'm used to going without sleep for a while. The life of a college student, I guess."

The Doctor hummed "You didn't choose easy subjects either. How did you manage?"

"It wasn't that bad. I like Engineering… I've always liked it, so classes aren't that hard," Kaya shrugged.

"Well, you seem like you're smart enough to get it," the Time Lord pointed out "I would love to see what you can do some time."

Kaya looked at her feet "I'm not that good…"

He was about to respond, when they heard Martha behind them "Woah, Nelly. I know for a fact you've got a wife in the country."

"But Martha," Will whined playfully "This is Town."

The Doctor snorted, rolling his eyes "Come on. We can all have a good flirt later."

"Is that a promise, Doctor?" Shakespeare smirked, trailing his eyes over the other man's body.

Kaya raised her eyebrow in surprise and her lips twitched when the Doctor opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to find words to say "Oh, fifty-seven academics just punched the air." He shook his head "Now move."

The group of four reached Bedlam Hospital in no time at all. Kaya shuddered as the Keeper sent them a malicious grin "Does my Lord Doctor wish some entertainment while he waits? I'd whip these madmen. They'll put on a good show for you. Mad dog in Bedlam."

"No," the Doctor snapped "I don't."

The Keeper scoffed at the pretentiousness of the man. He was probably just trying to impress one or – God forbid – both of them with his refusal "Well," the Keeper huffed "Wait here, my lords, while I make him decent for the ladies." He walked off, towards the cell that held Peter Streete.

"So this is what you call a hospital?" Martha sneered "Where the patients are whipped to entertain the gentry? And you put your friend in here?"

"Oh, it's all so different in Freedonia," Will rolled his eyes.

Martha took a deep breath and gritted her teeth "But you're clever. Do you honestly think this place is any good?"

"I've been mad," the Bard told her quietly "I've lost my mind. Fear of this place set me right again. It serves its purpose."

Kaya looked up at the playwright worriedly. She might not like his flirting with her but he was a nice guy and didn't deserve whatever happened to him "What happened?"

"You lost your son," the Doctor murmured. Kaya winced. The Shifter knew what it was like to lose someone close to you. When her mother had died, Kaya hadn't known what to do. Rachel and Rebecca had been too busy with helping Jacob and their own pain to see Kaya's struggle. The eighteen-year-old had helped her father as much as she could, ultimately trying to help him through the pain of losing his wife. After she turned a few years later, Rachel and Rebecca long gone, everything hit her again. For some reason, her wolf was a lot more emotional than her…

Will swallowed heavily "My only boy. The Black Death took him. I wasn't even there."

"I didn't know," Martha breathed, reaching out her hand.

Shakespeare avoided her hand, shaking his head "It made me question everything. The futility of this fleeting existence. To be or not to be… Oh, that's quite good."

Kaya licked her lips nervously "I'm sorry," she told Will quietly, looking down at her feet to avoid meeting any eyes "I know you're probably sick of hearing that but… I know how it feels to lose someone important to you."

"Who?" the playwright questioned.

"My mother," Kaya murmured "I was twelve – almost thirteen when she had an accident."

Will placed his hand on the Shifter's shoulder, squeezing lightly. When he was about to open his mouth to talk to her some more, the Keeper of the hospital returned "This way, my lord." The playwright shot the man a dirty look. He rather liked the younger of the two girls and was happy that she had spoken up, even if the topic wasn't the best. Now that she had said something, he wanted to talk to her more, get to know her. The Doctor and Martha were talking more than Kaya, so he thought he had them more or less figured out already. The eighteen-year-old, on the other hand, still was a bit of a mystery apart from the bond she seemed to have with the Time Lord. There was something between them but Will couldn't put his hand on it. Maybe the girl in question could shed some light on the situation.

Stopping in front of the cell, the Keeper turned around to look at the Doctor "They can be dangerous, my lord. Don't know their own strength."

"I think it helps if you don't whip them," the Doctor bit out "Now get out." The man left immediately, so the Time Lord turned to the hunched figure in the cell "Peter? Peter Streete?"

Will sighed, seeing his old friend's unmoving figure "He's the same as he was. You'll get nothing from him."

The Doctor moved towards the man on the ground carefully "Peter?" He touched his shoulder, causing Peter to raise his head, staring at the Time Lord silently. The Doctor raised his hands to Peter's temples, getting ready to enter the other man's mind "Peter, I'm the Doctor. Go into the past. One year ago. Let your mind go back. Back to when everything was fine and sharing. Everything that happened in this year since happened to somebody else. It was just a story. A Winter's Tale. Let go." When the man relaxed slowly, the Doctor smiled "That's it. That's it, just let go." He laid Peter back down on his cot "Tell me the story, Peter. Tell me about the witches."

"Witches spoke to Peter," Peter breathed, his eyes wide and unseeing "In the night, they whispered. They whispered. Got Peter to build the Globe to their design. Their design. The fourteen wall. Always fourteen. When the work was done they snapped poor Peter's wits."

The Doctor tilted his head "Where did Peter see the witches? Where in the city? Peter, tell me. You've got to tell me where were they?" he demanded urgently.

"All Hallows Street."

A witch appeared across the cell from the Doctor, close to Peter, causing Kaya to jump in surprise "Too many words," she cackled.

"What the hell?" Martha demanded.

Doomfinger smirked at the group of people "Just one touch of the heart."

She reached out for Peter, causing the Doctor to jump forward "No," he exclaimed. Kaya stiffened, clenching her fists, trying to stop them from trembling as the Time Lord got too close to the unknown variable in the cell.

"Witch," Will gasped out, his wide eyes glued to the ugly woman "I'm seeing a witch."

Doomfinger looked up from stopping Peter's heart, looking at each of the group in turn "Now, who would be next, hmm? Just one touch. Oh, oh, I'll stop your frantic hearts. Poor, fragile mortals."

"Let us out," Martha screamed, rattling at the bars "Let us out."

The witch stared "Who will die first, hmm?"

"Well, if you're looking for volunteers," the Doctor shrugged, going to step forward.

Kaya reached out to grip his arm "Don't," she pleaded

"Doctor, can you stop her?" Shakespeare questioned.

The witch laughed "No mortal has power over me."

"Oh, but there's power in words," the Time Lord told her, taking a step back and closer to Kaya. He could feel her panicking in the back of his mind and for some reason, it made his stomach clench "If I can find the right one. If I can just know you…"

"None on Earth has knowledge of us," the witch pointed out.

The Doctor hummed "Then it's a good thing I'm here. Now think, think, think," he squinted at the figure "Humanoid female, uses shapes and words to channel energy. Ah!" He let out a victorious sound "Fourteen. That's it… Fourteen. The fourteen stars of the Rexel planetary configuration." The witch's smile fell from her face, shock colouring her features. The Doctor pointed at her "Creature, I name you Carrionite."

The witch screamed, vanishing in a slow flash of light. Martha walked forward hesitantly "What did you do?"

"I named her," the Doctor explained "The power of a name. That's old magic."

"I thought…"

The Time Lord shook his head, knowing what she was about to say "Well, it's just a different sort of science. You lot, you chose mathematics. Given the right string of numbers, the right equation, you can split the atom. Carrionites use words instead."

"Use them for what?" Will asked. Kaya glanced down at her hands that were still shaking a little, her wolf howling, demanding to be let out to defend its Imprint against a threat that had been taken care of for now.

"The end of the world," the Doctor stated grimly. The walk back to the Inn was quiet with the Doctor more or less sticking to Kaya's side the entire way. He could feel her calming down at his closeness and made another mental note about that. As soon as they were back in Shakespeare's room, the Time Lord started pacing up and down, pushing the thoughts of the Bond to the back of his mind "The Carrionites disappeared way back at the dawn of the universe. Nobody was sure if they were real or legend."

Shakespeare gave a weak grin "Well, I'm going for real."

"But what do they want?" Martha questioned.

"A new empire on Earth," the Time Lord shrugged "A world of bones and blood and witchcraft."

The medical student shook her head "But how?"

The Doctor's gaze caught Shakespeare's "I'm looking at the man with the words."

"Me?" Will asked "But I've done nothing."

"Hold on, though," Martha murmured "What were you doing last night when that Carrionite was in the room?"

Will furrowed his brow "Finishing the play."

The Doctor leaned forward, glancing at the pages "What happens on the last page?"

"The boys get the girls. They have a bit of a dance," the playwright explained, glancing down "It's all as funny and thought-provoking as usual. Except for those last few lines. Funny thing is, I don't actually remember writing them."

"That's it," the Doctor exclaimed "They used you. They gave you the final words like a spell, like a code. Love's Labour's Won. It's a weapon." He ran a hand through his hair in agitation "The right combination of words, spoke at the right place, with the shake of the Globe as an energy converter. The play's the thing." Will opened his mouth but the Time Lord cut him off "And yes, you can have that." He turned to look at a map of the area, frowning in agitation when he could barely make out anything. His expression changed though when he found what he was looking for "All Hallow's Street. There it is. Kaya, Martha, we'll track them down. Will, you get to the Globe. Whatever you do, stop that play."

"I'll do it," the playwright stated firmly "All these years I've been the cleverest man around. Next to you, I know nothing."

Martha rolled her eyes with a snort "Oh, don't complain."

Will laughed "I'm not. It's marvellous. Good luck, Doctor."

"Good luck, Shakespeare," the Doctor said, walking out of the room "Once more onto the breach."

Will hummed as we left the room "I like that. Wait a minute, that's one of mine."

"Oh, just shift," the Doctor huffed with a smile, poking his head back into Will's room.

The three time travellers moved through the streets quickly, trying to find the house as fast as they could "All Hallows Street," the Time Lord exclaimed, stopping to look around "But which house?"

Martha just looked at the Doctor in confusion "The thing is, though am I missing something here? The world didn't end in 1599. It just didn't. Look at me. I'm living proof."

The Doctor turned to look at the medical student "Oh, how to explain the mechanics of the infinite temporal flux? I know." He snapped his fingers "Back to the Future. It's like Back to the Future."

"The film?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes in exasperation "No, the novelisation. Yes, the film. Marty McFly goes back and changes history."

Martha gasped "And he starts fading away. Oh, my God, am I going to fade?"

"You and the entire future of the human race. It ends right now in 1599 if we don't stop it. But which house?" The Time Lord looked around again, freezing when a door creaked open invitingly "Make that witch house…"

Kaya looked at the door uncertainly "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

The Doctor smiled at the Shifter a little "Not at all… Unfortunately, we don't have a choice." With that, the three made their way into the house where another witch was already waiting for them "I take it we're expected."

"Oh, I think Death has been waiting for you for a long time," Lilith pointed out, glaring at the Doctor.

Martha stepped forward "Right then, it's my turn," she spoke up, trying to impress the Doctor "I know how to do this." She pointed at the witch "I name thee Carrionite." When nothing happened, the medical student turned to the Doctor "What did I do wrong? Was it the finger?"

Lilith laughed "The power of a name works only once. Observe." She leaned forward "I gaze upon this bag of bones and now I name thee Martha Jones." Martha fell back, barely getting caught by Kaya who lowered her to the floor quickly.

"What have you done?" the Doctor demanded.

"Only sleeping, alas," the witch remarked "It's curious. The name has less impact. She somehow out of her time. And as for you, Sir Doctor." Lilith stopped, watching him curiously "Fascinating. There is no name. Not for you or your little friend here. How fascinating. You, on the other hand, don't have a name… Why would a man hide his title in such despair? Oh, but look. There's still one word with the power that aches."

The Doctor shook his head "The naming won't work on me," he pointed out. He had heard what the witch said about Kaya but it wasn't the moment to talk about it. From the eighteen-year-old's expression, she knew what this was about. They would talk about this later when the situation was taken care of.

"But your heart grows cold," the witch taunted "The north wind blows and carried down the distant… Rose."

"Oh, big mistake," the Time Lord snapped, a hurt to his voice that almost caused the Shifter to flinch. There was so much pain in his voice and coming through the bond that it was starting to hurt Kaya physically "Because that name keeps me fighting. The Carrionites vanished. Where did you go?"

Lilith turned away from him "The Eternals found the right word to banish us into deep darkness."

The Doctor raised his eyebrow "And how did you escape?"

"New words," the witch waved off "New and glittering, from a mind like no other."

"Will," Kaya breathed.

Lilith nodded with a smirk "His son perished. The grief of a genius. Grief without measure. Madness enough to allow us entrance."

"How many of you?" the Doctor questioned, fishing for information. The more Carrionites there were, the more complicated this would get.

"Just the three," the Carrionite said "But the play tonight shall restore the rest. Then the human race will be purged as pestilence. And from this world, we will lead the universe back into the old ways of blood and magic."

The Doctor rolled his eyes "Hmm. Busy schedule. But first, you've got to get past me." Kaya let out a strangled noise but fell silent when the Time Lord shot her a warning glance, willing her to keep quiet.

"Oh, that should be a pleasure, considering my enemy has such a handsome shape." The witch caressed the Doctor's face. Kaya gritted her teeth, uncomfortable with the whole situation.

The Time Lord snorted "Now, that's one form of magic that's definitely not going to work on me."

Lilith smiled "Oh, we'll see." She moved quickly, pulling some hairs from the man's head before withdrawing further away from the two awake people in the room.

"What did you do?" the Doctor breathed with his hand on his neck.

"Souvenir," the witch pointed out with a grin.

"Well, give it back," the Time Lord demanded. He shot forward, trying to grab the woman but Lilith just flew backwards and out of the window. The Doctor huffed "Well, that's just cheating."

Lilith started wrapping the hair around a wooden doll "Behold, Doctor. Men to Carrionites are nothing but puppets." As she watched, the Shifter couldn't hold back the low growl that escaped her throat at the witch who was playing with her Imprint. Her muscles were starting to ache, getting ready to shift but she pushed the wolf back.

The Doctor glared at the witch hovering outside the window "Now, you might call that magic. I'd call that a DNA replication module."

"What use is your science now?" Lilith challenged, stabbing the doll right in the heart. The Doctor screamed and fell to the ground as the witch flew away.

A roar echoed through Kaya's head as Martha jumped up, running over to the Doctor "Oh, my God, Doctor. Don't worry. I've got you." Seeing that the Time Lord was taken care of, the Shifter practically stumbled out of the door, trying to keep her trembling at bay. Her whole body was shaking so badly that the eighteen-year-old's legs were close to giving out. She was holding onto the corner of a house, her knuckles turning white.

Behind her, the Doctor and Martha burst out of the house. The medical student looked ready to just run off, the Time Lord's gaze caught Kaya's hunched over form "Are you alright?" he demanded, his hands lifting the eighteen-year-old's face.

"Yes," Kaya nodded. As soon as she saw that he was alright, she relaxed. Her wolf stopped fighting her and she breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't that she didn't like being in her wolf form but the fact that the Doctor didn't know about her, made her reluctant to change. That and the fact that she would be without clothes.

The Doctor held out his hand for her to take "Come on. We have to hurry."

The closer they were getting to the Globe, the stronger the wind around the time travellers got. A bad storm was raging over the building as the audience panicked, trampling each other in their quest to get out of the theatre. They didn't have much luck though because just after Kaya pushed through the stage door after the Doctor and Martha, the witches magicked the doors close.

"Stop the play," the Doctor ranted, seeing Shakespeare waking up backstage "I think that was it. Yeah, I said, stop the play."

Will rubbed at his head in pain "I hit my head."

"Yeah, don't rub it," the Time Lord commented "You'll go bald." The screaming outside picked up and the Doctor straightened "I think that's my cue." He ran out onto the stage with the others following behind.

Lilith gasped, her eyes widening from her place in the private box "The Doctor. He lives… Then watch this world become a blasted heath. They come. They come." She held the crystal out into the red light, causing several bat-like creatures to fly into the theatre. They circled around, scaring the humans even more before flying up into the sky.

The Doctor whirled around and grabbed Will's arm "Come on, Will. History needs you."

"But what can I do?" the playwright cried over the wind.

"Reverse it."

Shakespeare looked at him with a deadpan stare "How am I supposed to do that?"

"The Shape of the Globe," the Time Lord explained "Gives words power but you're the wordsmith, the one true genius. The only man clever enough to do it."

"But what words?" Will demanded "I have none ready."

The Time Lord grabbed his shoulders "You're William Shakespeare. If anyone can do it, it's you." Will still didn't look convinced, so the Doctor continued "Trust yourself, Will. When you're locked away in your room, the words just come, don't they, like magic. Words of the right sound, the right shape, the right rhythm. Words that last forever. That's what you do, Will. You choose perfect words."

Will closed his eyes for a moment before he took a deep breath and nodded "Close up this din of hateful, dire decay, decomposition of your witches' plot. You thieve my brains, consider me your toy. My doting Doctor tells me I am not."

"No," Lilith cried in horror "Words of power."

"Foul Carrionite spectres, cease your show," the playwright continued "Between the points…" He glanced at the Doctor for the answer.

"Seven six one three nine oh."

Shakespeare repeated the numbers quickly "Banished like a tinker's cuss, I say to thee…"

He glanced back, slightly panicked as no words came to him. The Doctor frowned, trying to think of a word as well before Martha's head snapped up "Expelliarmus."

"Expelliarmus," Will finished, pointing in the direction of the whirlwind.

As the Carrionites started to get sucked into the tornado, the Doctor grinned "Good old JK…" One after the other, the other aliens were sucked back towards the crystal that Lilith was holding, pages flying into the storm along with the creatures. The backstage door opened, allowing them to be sucked in "Love's Labour's Won… There it goes."

The skies cleared with a flash and a bang. After a few moments, someone started clapping and then the whole audience joined in "They think it was all special effects?"

"Your effects are special indeed," the playwright told her with a cheesy grin, causing Kaya to turn her back to them to hide the laughter at his stupid pickup line.

The medical student shook her head "It's not your best line." Will bowed to the applauding crowd with the actors, while the Doctor wandered off and up to the private box the Carrionites had been in before, grabbing the crystal.

The next morning, the three time travellers along with Will were relaxing on the stage. Well, the Doctor was rummaging around the props store backstage, while the other three were out on the stage. Kaya was lying on her back, her eyes closed as she listened to Martha and Will's conversation "And I say," Will started "A heart for a hart and a dear for a deer."

"I don't get it," Martha shook her head.

Shakespeare sighed "Then give me a joke from Freedonia."

Martha grinned "Okay… Shakespeare walks into a pub and the landlord says 'Oi mate, you're Bard.'"

"From all the jokes you could have chosen," Kaya muttered "You choose that one?"

Will chuckled "That's brilliant. Doesn't make sense, mind you but never mind that. Now come here." He wrapped his arm around the medical student's waist, pulling her towards him.

"I've only just met you."

"The Doctor may never kiss you," the playwright pointed out, causing Kaya to open her eyes to look at them "Why not entertain a man who will?"

Martha swallowed, catching the eighteen-year-old's eyes. She turned back to Will, putting a smile on her face "I don't know how to tell you this, oh great genius but your breath doesn't half stink."

At that moment, the Doctor came out from backstage, wearing a small stiff ruff, carrying a skull. He was looking at it, slightly weirded out "Good props store back there," he remarked "I'm not sure about this though. Reminds me of a Sycorax."

"Sycorax," Shakespeare hummed "Nice word. I'll have that off you as well."

The Doctor looked at him with exasperation in his eyes "I should be on ten percent… How's your head?"

"Still aching," the Bard answered, rubbing at the back of his head.

"Here," the Time Lord took off the ruff and put it on Shakespeare "I got you this. Neck brace. Wear that for a few days till it's better, although you might want to keep it. It suits you."

Martha tilted her head "What about the play?"

"Gone," the Doctor shook his head "I looked all over. Every single copy of Love's Labours Won went up in the sky."

Shakespeare sighed sadly "My lost masterpiece."

"You could write it up again," Martha pointed out.

The Doctor grimaced "Yeah, better not, Will. There's still power in those words. Maybe it should best stay forgotten."

"Oh, but I've got new ideas," Shakespeare smiled, his eyes dragging from Kaya to the Doctor. He had noticed the Time Lord unconsciously shifting closer to the girl "Perhaps it's time I wrote about fathers and sons, in memory of my boy, my precious Hamnet."

"Hamnet?" Martha blinked in surprise.

Kaya tilted her head, equally as confused but also sort of amused at the look the Bard shot her "That's him," he nodded.

"Hamnet?"

"What's wrong with that?" Shakespeare asked, sounding slightly affronted.

The Doctor shook his head "Anyway, time we were off. I've got a nice attic in the Tardis where this lot can scream for all eternity."

Will shot him a look "You mean travel on through time and space."

"You… what?" the Time Lord gaped.

"You're from another world like the Carrionites, while Martha and Kaya are from the future. It'sn ot hard to work out," Shakespeare explained.

The Doctor grinned at the man "That's incredible. You're incredible."

Will hummed "We're alike in many ways, Doctor. Martha, let me say goodbye to you in a new verse. A sonnet for my Dark Lady. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate…"

"Will," Burbage burst in, followed by Kempe. Both men were out of breath, looking more than a little excited.

"Will," Kempe panted "You'll never believe it. She's here. She's turned up."

Burbage nodded "We're the talk of the town. She heard about last night. She wants us to perform it again."

"Who?" Martha questioned as Kaya slowly got up from where she had still been laying. The Doctor held out his hand, pulling the other girl to her feet with barely any effort.

"Her Majesty," Burbage pointed out "She's here."

A fanfare sounded and the elderly Queen Elizabeth entered with two pikemen flanking her. The Doctor grinned in delight "Queen Elizabeth the First."

"Doctor?" the Queen breathed.

The Time Lord's smile fell in shock "What?"

"My sworn enemy," the royal continued, glaring at the man.

"What?"

The Queen gestured to her people "Off with his head."

"What?" Shakespeare laughed at the Doctor in the background. He was more than amused at the spectacle even if he wasn't necessarily surprised. The other man seemed to be a person to piss off people without meaning to… Or sometimes with meaning to as well.

Martha shoved the Doctor "Never mind what, just run. See you, Will, and thanks."

"Stop that pernicious Doctor," the Queen shouted as the pikemen chased the Doctor, Kaya and Martha out and into the streets.

The pikemen who were chasing the three time travellers down to Southwark called out for them "Stop in the name of the Queen."

"What have you done to upset her?" Martha demanded, panting heavily.

The Doctor shrugged "How should I know? Haven't even met her yet. That's time travel for you. Still, can't wait to find out." He opened the door to the Tardis, allowing both girls to enter before him. The Time Lord glanced over his shoulder at the pikemen "That's something to look forward to." His eyes widened as an arrow went flying. There had been just enough time for him to close the door behind him as the arrow thudded into the wood behind him.

When the Tardis was in the Vortex, the alien turned to the two girls. Martha was sitting on the jump seat while Kaya was leaning against a railing, looking ready to fall asleep. The medical student got up with a sigh "Is there anywhere I can shower?"

"Sure," the Doctor nodded, gesturing to the corridor up the stairs "Up there. Down the corridor… Choose one of the rooms on the right." As soon as she was gone, he turned to the Shifter "We need to talk."

Kaya glanced up at him uncomfortably "Is that where you tell me that you want me to leave?"

"What?" the Time Lord blinked before shaking his head violently "No, no. Not at all. But something the Carrionite said…"

"Oh," the eighteen-year-old nodded, relaxing again "Sure… We can talk."


	4. Interlude: Missing Wolf

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, here we go. For those of you who haven't done it yet… Go back and read Shakespeare Code. I deleted the original half chapter and replaced it with a complete one since most of you wanted a full Episode per chapter.
> 
> I'm sorry that I barely posted anything in a while but my laptop has a few problems with its keyboard. It annoyed me so much that I didn't write for a while. Thankfully, my dad had a Bluetooth keyboard lying around. It takes some getting used to but hey. At least I'm able to write without having to backtrack because there aren't any spaces or too many or whatever.
> 
> So, I know that Quileute do actually exist in Forks (La Push) but for the sake of this story, they don't exist in the Whoniverse. I hope that makes sense.
> 
> Enjoy,
> 
> Nick

 

_Then…_

_When the Tardis was in the Vortex, the alien turned to the two girls. Martha was sitting on the jump seat while Kaya was leaning against a railing, looking ready to fall asleep. The medical student got up with a sigh "Is there anywhere I can shower?"_

" _Sure," the Doctor nodded, gesturing to the corridor up the stairs "Up there. Down the corridor… Choose one of the rooms on the right." As soon as she was gone, he turned to the Shifter "We need to talk."_

_Kaya glanced up at him uncomfortably "Is that where you tell me that you want me to leave?"_

" _What?" the Time Lord blinked before shaking his head violently "No, no. Not at all. But something the Carrionite said…"_

" _Oh," the eighteen-year-old nodded, relaxing again "Sure… We can talk."_

Now…

When the Doctor didn't start talking, Kaya raised her eyebrow "You know… For there to be talking, one has to open his mouth?"

"Sorry," the Time Lord murmured sheepishly "Just trying to think about how to approach this."

"You want to know why the Carrionite didn't know my name?" the Shifter tilted her head, humming at the Doctor's nod "I honestly don't know. I mean, I might have an idea but – There's something you'd have to do for me before I can tell you my suspicions."

The Doctor's expression turned curious "Look up what?"

"La Push," Kaya said "I need you to look up La Push and Quileute."

"Is that where you're from?" the Doctor questioned, turning to the console to look up the terms he had been told.

The Shifter stepped closer, looking around the Doctor at the screen "Yeah. It's where I'm from."

The Doctor looked at the screen, frowning at what he was reading. But… This was impossible. How could it not exist? He was sure that the eighteen-year-old was telling the truth but the evidence was speaking against her "There is no such place, Kaya. La Push doesn't exist and the only evidence of Quileute is a book…"

"That's what I feared," the girl sighed, scrubbing her hand over her face "There was an incident before I woke up at the hospital. I – I crashed my car in America when I was on my way to buy a present for my father's birthday. That's the last thing I can remember before I woke up on another continent in another year entirely."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I think that I moved from one universe into another somehow," the Shifter explained "I mean, there is the multiverse theory. I'm not sure how true it is or anything but that's the only thing I can think of to explain what happened."

The Time Lord narrowed his eyes in thought "Well, there are other universes but… That should be impossible. The parallel worlds are sealed off. There's no way you should have been able to get through."

"How…"

"Rose," the Doctor swallowed "Rose is trapped in a parallel world. I was able to get a message to her before the walls sealed once and for all. There shouldn't have been… You couldn't have… But…"

Kaya sank down on the jump seat and hid her face in her hands "So you're saying that… I shouldn't be here? I can't ever get back to my father?"

"I'm sorry, Kaya," the Doctor whispered, sitting down next to her. He followed the pull, urging him to pull her into an embrace. The girl tensed for a moment before relaxing into him, hiding her face in his jacket.

"It's not your fault," the eighteen-year-old sniffed "I just… I expected it but to hear it is something different." She closed her eyes with a tired sigh "I just wished that I could apologize to my father for just disappearing on him. He was the most important person in my life."

The Doctor rested his head on the Shifter's "Don't you have more family?"

"I do," she mumbled "But they aren't… They don't… It doesn't matter." Kaya reluctantly pulled out of her Imprint's warm embrace, immediately feeling the loss of the close connection. The weak bond had been practically humming which caused her inner wolf to purr similar to a cat "I'm going to go shower and get some sleep if that's alright. I'm tired."

The Doctor stared after the girl, a suspicion niggling at the back of his mind. He got up and walked over to the console, setting a quick scan of Kaya. He knew that he probably shouldn't do that but there was something about her and he had to know whether she was dangerous or not. The Time Lord doubted that but there had to be a reason of why she was here… Right?

"What?" he murmured when the screen flashed with a warning "What do you mean? Come on, why are you doing this?"

The Tardis just hummed angrily, wiping the information from the monitor before it could appear. She knew what the Doctor's Wolf would bring for her thief and she wanted Kaya to tell him herself. After all, it would be really fun to see her thief's reaction to her first transformation. Yes, the Tardis was definitely looking forward to that.

The Time Lord huffed "At least tell me whether she's dangerous… Ouch." He snagged his hand away from the console, shaking it to get rid of the pain. The Tardis had burned his hand as soon as the words had left his mouth. A right traitor she was "What did you do that for?"

* * *

The alpha of the La Push shifters was sitting on his couch, arm wrapped around his Imprint when he felt it. Something in him snapped, one of the pack bonds ripped, causing his wolf to howl in agony.

"Sam?" Emily asked, looking up at the man when she felt him flinch "What's wrong?" Sam barely heard her though. He was clutching at his chest in pain, hoping that the sensation lessened soon "Sam? You're really scaring me."

"I'm fine," he mumbled once he felt like he could breathe again. What was that? Scratch that, whose bond broke? All the pack was here, right? They were all around the reservation, so he didn't understand how one of them could have… died? Did they even die or what happened? No one told him that something like this could happen.

At that moment, his phone went crazy with incoming messages from the pack, all asking one single question ' **What was that?** '

' **Come over. Pack meeting,** ' he sent back urgently. Sam just had to find out who was missing from his pack.

It took half an hour before seemingly everyone was there… Everyone but "Where's Kaya?" Sam questioned, narrowing his eyes.

Paul rolled his eyes "Who cares?"

Jared hit him on the head "Shut up, Paul."

"What? Like you weren't thinking it. We don't need her in the pack, so what does it matter whether she's here," the third in command grumbled, crossing his arms.

"It matters because one of the bonds broke," Sam pointed out, scarily calm. Internally he had frozen. How would he tell Billy or the other members of the Elders that one of their own was gone? This was going to be a nightmare "Since Kaya is the only one missing, I assume that it was her we felt."

Jared's eyes widened "What – What does that mean?"

"I don't know," the alpha admitted "I really hope that I'm wrong in assuming that she died but…"

"You really think that she could be dead?"

Sam shrugged "I don't know how the bond would break otherwise."

Paul rolled his eyes "Maybe she finally got sick of us and left. I mean, I would welcome it. She had no business being a wolf. Hell, she is the first girl who shifted. Maybe it was destined or some shit."

Jared gritted his teeth "I understand that you don't like her or Jacob much. I might not know why but she might have died, Paul. Do you really care so little?"

"Enough," Sam sighed, running a hand through his hair "We all treated her like crap and I couldn't fault her if she did run but… I have a feeling that she wouldn't do that. She was pack, guys." He got up with a sigh "I'm going to see if I can catch Billy and talk to him about this. You two… Just – Be careful. We don't know what's going on and losing one wolf is more than enough already."

"Yes, Sam," Jared and Paul nodded, more or less happy with the whole situation.

* * *

"Sam?" Billy blinked, looking at the Shifter in front of him in confusion "Kaya isn't here. Jake said that she went out for the day."

Sam bit his lip "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. Can I come in?"

The wheelchair-bound man nodded, letting the alpha into his house "Is something wrong?"

"You could say so," Sam mumbled "I – I don't know how to tell you this but… Have you ever heard of a bond breaking?"

Billy narrowed his eyes "Why?"

"Because I felt one of the pack bonds break just an hour ago. The others felt it too and…" Sam trailed off, shifting uncomfortably.

"And what? Tell me that you have a response from Kaya, that she's fine… Please," the Elder pleaded, looking up at the young man. Back when he had still regularly shifted, they lost one of their pack. The pain was horrifying but there was no real indication of what happened. Only that there was one less bond.

Sam shook his head "I can't. Paul and Jared were both there. It's only Kaya who's missing, Billy."

"No, no, no," the man mumbled "It can't be. I can't lose her too."

"How do you…"

There was a knock at the door, causing both men to look over in confusion. Sam went to answer the door, blinking when he saw Chief Swan on the other side "Chief Swan."

"Hello…"

"Sam Uley, sir."

Charlie nodded "Sam, then. Is Billy there?"

"He's inside," the Shifter nodded, stepping to the side to let the man in. He knew that both older men were good friends but there was a sinking feeling in his stomach. Chief Swan looked… almost nervous.

"Billy," Charlie nodded, seeing his old friend.

The older Black looked up "What are you doing here, Charlie?"

"We – Erm… We found your daughter's car, Billy," the Chief sighed, unsure of how exactly he should handle the situation. Informing the family members was always the hardest thing to do and Charlie was glad that Forks was such a small town. Barely anything worthwhile happened.

"Kaya," Billy closed his eyes "Is she okay? Where is she?"

Charlie shook his head "We don't know. The car was empty but… There was a lot of blood."

"What does that mean?"

"There is a BOLO out for her but… It doesn't look good, Billy."

The older Black swallowed "Yeah, alright."

Charlie tilted his head "Are you going to be alright? Do you want me to stay for a while?"

"No, no," Billy waved off, a small grimace on his face "I have Sam here. You go and… Go and find her, alright?"

"I'll do my best, Billy. And I'm so sorry."

"Not your fault."

Charlie sighed "No, it's not." He looked at Sam "Take care of him. I would tell that to Jacob but I'm sure that he is out with my daughter again."

"I will," Sam nodded, bringing the older man to the door "Billy…"

"How am I going to tell Jake or the girls?" the wheelchair-bound man mumbled, burying his face in his hands "First their mother and now this…"

"Billy…" the Shifter really didn't know what to do. Here was one of the men he saw as a father figure falling apart in front of him and the only thing he could think about was how he failed his pack. The others and he all treated the Black badly. Sam couldn't help but feel that this was his fault. At least in part…

"Can you leave me?" the tribe Elder asked "I just… I need to be alone for a bit."

The alpha nodded "You know how to reach me. Do you want me to tell the other Elders or… Do you want to tell them yourself?"

"If you don't mind?"

"Sure," Sam agreed "For what it's worth. We'll see if we can find out who did this."

Billy smiled shakily "Thank you, Sam."


	5. Gridlock

"Just one trip," the Doctor said, pointing to Martha as he walked around the console "That's what I said. One trip in the Tardis and then home. Although…" He wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to take Martha along for longer than necessary. He had noticed how she was towards Kaya although the Time Lord couldn't quite figure out why. The Doctor glanced to Kaya who smiled at him lightly. She was a little more subdued but that was normal. She had just found out that she was in another universe and wouldn't be able to see her family again "Although, I suppose we could stretch the definition. Take one trip into the past, one trip into the future. How do you fancy that?"

A smug little smile stole its way across Martha's face "No complaints from me."

The Doctor hummed "How about a different planet?"

"Can we go to yours?" Martha asked immediately, looking over at the alien pleadingly.

"Ah, there's plenty of other places," the Time Lord winced, hoping that the medical student would let it go. He really didn't want to have to tell her about what happened.

Martha sighed "Come on, though. I mean, planet of the Time Lords. That's got to be worth a look. Whats it like?"

"You don't have to tell us," Kaya cut in, raising her eyebrow at Martha. Opposed to the dark-skinned girl, the Shifter could see the pain the Doctor was trying to hide. It helped that she could feel it echoing through the Imprint bond but Shakespeare had been right. The Doctor's eyes were old and if people looked closely, they would be able to see the emotions swirling inside.

The Doctor sent her a thankful smile "It's fine," he nodded at Kaya before looking back to the medical student "Yeah, it's beautiful."

"Great big temples and cathedrals," Martha blundered on "Lots of planets in the sky?"

The Time Lord licked his lips nervously, looking down at his hands that were working on the console. He could feel Kaya's mental presence, trying to comfort him. Normally, he wouldn't react like this but he felt like embracing it. Another small smile flitted across his face when he heard the eighteen-year-old's quiet gasp. So she felt that too… Curious "The sky's a burnt orange," he spoke up "With the Citadel enclosed in a might glass dome, shining under the twin suns. Beyond that, the mountains go on forever. Slopes of deep red grass, capped with snow."

Martha's face lit up with excitement "Can we go there?"

"Nah," the Doctor shook his head, pasting a bright grin to his face "Where's the fun for me? I don't want to go home. Instead, this is much better. Year five billion and fifty-three, planet New Earth. Second hope of mankind. Fifty thousand light years from your old world and we're slap bang in the middle of New New York. Although, technically it's the fifteenth New York from the original, so it's New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York. One of the most dazzling cities ever built."

Kaya blinked a few times, her brain trying to catch up with the Doctor's rambling "New New York?"

"Yup," he grinned.

"Huh," the Shifter mumbled before shrugging "If there can be a New Orleans, then there can be a New New York. And a New Earth, I suppose."

While the two were talking, Martha had moved to the door and opened it "Urgh," the two heard from her.

"What's wrong?" the Doctor frowned, following behind.

Kaya stepped out into the pouring rain, shivering at the freezing cold of the rain "Holy crap," she whispered to herself, looking around the dank alley. She should be used to the rain. There was barely any weather in Forks that didn't involve either rain or snow but… Thankfully the cold didn't bother the Shifter much. It was one of the aspects that she really loved about being a wolf. Before her first shift, she got cold extremely easily.

"Oh, that's nice," Martha rolled her eyes "Time Lord version of dazzling."

The Doctor shook his head at her "Nah, bit of rain never hurt anyone. Come on, let's get under cover." He lead the two girls over to a covered doorway, unconsciously shielding Kaya from the rain.

"Well, it looks like the same of Earth to me, on a Wednesday afternoon," the medical student pointed out.

Kaya leaned her head against a wall "I think that's the point? I mean, it's called New New Earth for a reason. I would have guessed that it's the same or similar to Earth. A more advanced Earth?"

"Hold on, hold on," the Time Lord spoke up before the two girls could get into anything else "Let's have a look." He pulled out his new sonic screwdriver, getting the monitor behind Kaya's head working.

" _And the driving should be clear and easy with fifteen extra lanes open for the New New Jersey expressway,_ " the woman on the screen announced before a picture of a high-tech Manhattan showed with cars flying to and from.

The Doctor smirked smugly "Oh, that's more like it. That's the view we had last time. This must be the lower levels, down in the base of the tower. Some sort of under-city."

Martha huffed, crossing her arms totally unimpressed "You've brought me to the slums?"

"Much more interesting," the Doctor tried, fighting a losing battle. To be honest, he was getting a little annoyed. So far the medical student hadn't done much but complain about things. He had no doubt that she could be brilliant but he wasn't sure he wanted to wait until she showed her full potential "It's all cocktails and glitter up there. This is the real city."

Kaya snorted "You would enjoy something like this."

"That's me," the Time Lord laughed before poking his head out of the alcove "Ah, the rain's stopping. Better and better."

"When you say last time, was that you and Rose?" Martha asked, squinting at the alien suspiciously.

The Doctor's eyes darted to Kaya again, real quick before scratching the back of his head uncomfortably. The eighteen-year-old didn't seem to mind him talking about Rose. He had explained a little more about their situation earlier and it seemed like Kaya actually understood "Er, yeah. Yeah, it was, yeah."

"You're taking us to the same places that you took her?" the medical student demanded, for once hoping that Kaya was on her side "Why aren't you saying something about this?"

The Shifter tilted her head "What do you want me to say? We're on a different planet, years in the future. And you're complaining?"

"Ever heard of the word rebound?" Martha hissed "Because that's what we seem to be to him."

"Oh, don't be so dramatic. He's known Rose for a while. Wouldn't you miss your… erm… best friend," Kaya grimaced, not sure how to phrase it. She couldn't say girlfriend because technically they hadn't been together, so this was the best thing she could think of "If you lost them? Because I know that I would."

Martha humphed, stalking off further down the alley. The Doctor placed his hand on Kaya's shoulder "Thank you. I –"

The eighteen-year-old shook her head "You don't have to talk about anything if you don't want to. I told you that before. I'm here if you do want to talk but I'm not going to force you."

"I know," the Time Lord murmured softly "I really appreciate that, Kaya. It's just that humans in general are curious. That's why I'm a bit surprised that you backed off so quickly."

"Why should I be privy to your secrets when I make you work for mine?" the Shifter asked, somewhat uncomfortable. At first, it had seemed like a good idea to make that challenge with the Doctor but now… She felt bad that she was afraid of telling him. Technically it was her fault that they were bound, wasn't it? But her life had been full of rejection so far… Kaya was sure that she wouldn't be able to survive another rejection – especially if the person rejecting her was her Imprint.

She looked up when she felt the hand on her shoulder tighten a little "Hey, you okay?"

"Yes," Kaya blinked "Sorry, what did you say?"

"I said that Martha seemed to have gotten herself into a situation," the Doctor repeated, nodding to the medical student who was getting bombarded by several vendors "Let's see what they're selling, shall we?" He held out his arm with an exaggerated bow. The Shifter shook her head with a small grin, walking past him without taking the arm "Rude?"

Kaya smirked "Gotta try harder there, Hero."

"Hero?" the Doctor asked, following after the shorter girl.

"I have no idea," the eighteen-year-old shrugged "Just came up with it but it does rather fit, doesn't it?"

The Time Lord grimaced "I'm no hero."

"I could call you Sandshoes if you want me to," she shot back with a grin.

"They're not…" the Doctor broke off, looking down at his feet "They're not sand shoes."

"Then you take what you get," Kaya pointed out "And I do rather think you're a hero. A hero doesn't have to be a good guy in my eyes." She stopped, looking at him "You do what you need to help as many people as possible. That – That right there is heroic, alright."

The Time Lord rolled his eyes lightly, slapping her hand away when she poked him playfully. He could feel himself relaxing at her words. How was it that someone who had known him for a few days could read him this well? Was this something to do with the bond? Maybe, but he was sure that Kaya was extremely observant, even without some bond helping her "I see that I can't stop you from calling me that, can I?"

"Nope," the girl shook her head, her expression turning smug at her victory.

"That just means that I'll have to find a nickname for you too," he pointed out.

Kaya inclined her head "Fair. Let me know what you come up with in that big brain of yours, Hero."

The two of them walked closer to where Martha was still standing. All three of the vendors were shouting over the other by the time the Doctor and Kaya had reached them "Don't go to them. They'll rip you off. Do you want some happy?"

"No, thank you," the Doctor cut in smoothly.

Martha whirled around in relief when she heard the Time Lord's voice. Where had he been? She hadn't gone that far "Are they selling drugs?"

"I – I think they're selling moods," the Doctor corrected, frowning in disapproval.

"Same thing, isn't it?" the medical student sneered in disgust as more people entered the area.

The pharmacists leaned out of their stalls, shouting at the people "Over here, sweetheart. That's it, come on, I'll get you first," the first smirked as a woman wandered closer.

"Oi. Oi, you. Over here. Buy some happy," the one who had spoken earlier called to the young woman.

"Come over here," the first gestured, his voice taking on a soothing tone "Yeah. And what can I get you, my love?"

The woman fidgeted, drying her eyes on her sleeve "I want to buy Forget."

The pharmacist smiled "I've got Forget, my darling. What strength? How much do you want forgetting?"

"It's my mother and father," the woman said softly "They went on the motorway."

"Oh, that's a swine," the pharmacist grimaced "Try this." He handed over a small square "Forget Forty-three. That's two credits."

The Doctor stepped forward "Sorry, but hold on a minute. What happened to your parents?"

"They drove off." Kaya frowned as the woman's emotions seemed to leak out of her voice.

"Yeah, but they might drive back," the Time Lord pointed out what the three time-travellers were thinking.

The woman shook her head "Everyone goes to the motorway in the end. I've lost them."

"But they can't have gone far," the Doctor tried to convince her while also fishing for as much information as he could "You could find them." When the woman just raised the square to her neck, he surged forward "No. No, no, don't."

But he was too late. The woman had already stuck the Forget Forty-three to her neck, blinking at the man in front of her lethargically "I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

"Your parents. Your mother and father," the Doctor murmured "They're on the motorway."

"Are they?" the woman replied airily "That's nice. I'm sorry, I won't keep you." With that said, she walked away, still in a daze.

Martha stared at the Doctor incredulously "So that's the human race five billion years in the future. Off their heads on chemicals." The medical student let out a scream when someone grabbed her from behind.

"I'm sorry," the man whispered, looking from the Doctor to Kaya apologetically as the woman with him pointed a gun at the two of them. Almost as soon as they had appeared, the hatches of the stalls closed "I'm really, really sorry. We just need three, that's all."

"No, let her go," the Doctor demanded, taking a small step forward. Kaya made a small noise, trying to pull him back but her hands had just stared shaking "I'm warning you, let her go. Whatever you want, I can help. The three of us, we can help. But first, you've got to let her go."

The woman let out something close to a sob "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Sorry." They dragged Martha through a green door, locking it behind them.

As soon as they were gone, the Doctor tried to get it back open. It took him a few minutes but he was running before the door was fully open with Kaya right behind him "Martha," he called out, looking around while continuing to run.

Kaya stopped behind him "They're gone, Doctor," she told him, barely out of breath.

"I can see that," he muttered, running a hand through his hair "Come on, the idiots from back there should know what's going on."

"Are you sure?" the Shifter asked, trying to discreetly sniff the air. There was nothing though. Nothing but gunk and – and exhaust fumes. A lot of exhaust fumes actually.

The Doctor didn't reply, hammering on one of the closed hatches instead. It opened and the pharmacist nodded in victory "Thought you's come back. Do you want some happy Happy?"

"Those people, who were they?" the Time Lord demanded "Where did they take her?"

"They've taken her to the motorway," the female pharmacist behind them pointed out.

The pharmacist in front of them nodded "Looked like carjackers to me."

"I'd give up now, darling," the one who hadn't spoken so far told the two "You won't see her again."

"Used to be thriving this place," the woman murmured, her eyes going into the distance as if remembering the 'good old times' "You couldn't move. But they all go to the motorway in the end."

The Time Lord gritted his teeth in annoyance "He kept on saying three, we need three. What did he mean, three?"

The pharmacist to their left raised his eyebrow in confusion "It's the car-sharing policy, to save fuel. You get special access if you're carrying three adults."

"This motorway," the Doctor sighed, squeezing Kaya's hand "How do we get there?"

"Straight down the alley, keep going to the end," the man explained, gesturing the other way from where we had gone earlier "You can't miss it. Tell you what. How about some happy Happy. Then you'll be smiling, my loves."

Kaya grimaced "I think I'll pass, thanks."

"Word of advice," the Time Lord shot at them, glaring darkly "All of you. Cash up, close down and pack your bags."

"Why's that, then?" the pharmacists demanded, seemingly getting pissed off by them.

The Doctor leaned forward "Because as soon as I've found her, alive and well. And I will find her alive and well. Then I'm coming back and this street is closing tonight." He whirled around and without another glance at the pale pharmacists walked off with Kaya hot on his heels.

The two of them reached the door, the man had talked about, the Time Lord immediately made to open the metal door with his sonic. It unlocked easily and he stepped through with the Shifter again one step behind him. As soon as the two were standing on a small balcony, the exhaust fumes were causing them to cough. Kaya took a couple of steps forward, looking down before raising her eyes upwards. The stationary traffic was stacked in all direction including up and so far down that her eyes couldn't see the last layer.

The car nearest to the small balcony opened its door, revealing a figure in a World War 2 flying jacket and helmet, goggles and a white scarf covering most of his face "Hey," the man shouted "You daft little street struts. What are you doing standing there?" He waved the two time travellers closer to his car "Either get out or get in. Come on." The Doctor stumbled forward, Kaya carefully making sure that he didn't fall or anything while the fumes were also getting to her "Did you ever see the like?"

A dark-haired woman put oxygen masks on both the man and the woman who were greedily sucking in the air "Here you go," she smiled.

The man shook his head "Just standing there, breathing it in." He removed the scarf and goggles, revealing a very furry face. Kaya's eyes focussed on him for a moment before going back to breathing in the fresh air "There's this story, says back in the old days, on Junction forty-seven, this woman stood in the exhaust fumes for a solid twenty minutes. By the time they found her, her head had swollen to fifty feet."

"Oh, you're making it up," the woman scoffed back, rolling her eyes.

"A fifty feet head," Branigan gestured "Just think of it. Imagine picking that nose."

"That's disgusting," Valerie wrinkled her nose.

Branigan raised his eyebrow "What, did you never pick your nose?"

His wife shook her head, looking out of the windshield, deeming it better to not get into this discussion "Bran, we're moving."

"Right," the cat man exclaimed, setting the car in motion hastily "I'm there. I'm on it." With a cloud of white smoke from the exhaust pipes, every car moved forward a tiny little bit "Twenty yards. We're having a good day…" He turned to the two passengers, seeing that the girl was staring at the clouds of exhaust in something akin to horror "And who might you two be? Very well-dressed for hitchhikers."

The Doctor pulled off his oxygen mask "Thanks," he smiled sheepishly, handing it back to the woman "Sorry, I'm the Doctor and that's Kaya."

"Medical man," Branigan hummed "My name's Thomas Kincade Branigan and this is the bane of my life, the lovely Valerie."

"Nice to meet you," Valerie nodded.

The cat man nodded to the curtain behind the two time travellers "And that's the rest of the family behind you."

Kaya ripped her eyes away from the outside, looking over her shoulder at the curtain that separated the driver's cabin from the back. She exchanged a look with the Doctor before reaching out to draw back the cloth. There was a litter of kittens in a basket, scrambling over each other to get a good look at the intruders their parents were talking to.

"Ah," the Doctor grimaced a little, thinking back to his last experience with cats on New Earth "That's nice. Hello. How old are they?"

"Just two months," Valerie explained.

Branigan sighed "Poor little souls. They've never known the ground beneath their paws. Children of the motorway."

Kaya finally removed the oxygen mask, waving off the Doctor's concern "They were born in here?" she asked cautiously.

"We couldn't stop," Valerie shrugged "We heard there were jobs going out in the laundries on Fire Island. Thought we'd take a chance."

"What… You've been driving for two months?" the Doctor asked.

Branigan snorted "We've been driving for twelve years now."

The Time Lord choked on air "I'm sorry?"

"Yeah," the cat man nodded "Started out as newlyweds. Feels like yesterday."

Valerie shot her husband a look "Feels like twelve years to me."

"Ah, sweetheart, but you still love me," he bantered. Kaya sent them a sad smile, somewhat reminded of how her father and mother were always making fun of each other, arguing, bantering. She really did miss her father and even Jacob. No matter how he was acting, he was still her brother. The Pack… It was a complicated situation. Part of her felt sad that she couldn't feel them anymore but then again they treated her like crap and alienated her for being who she was. The part of her that missed them was her wolf who didn't necessarily missed them, just the fact that it was all alone with no pack. The Shifter wasn't sure what would have happened, had she not partially bonded with the Doctor.

The Time Lord frowned at the sadness invading his mind "Are you alright?" he questioned, reaching out to touch Kaya's arm.

"What?" Kaya blinked, her head snapping over to meet the Doctor's eyes "Sorry…"

"What's wrong?" he asked softly, ignoring the other two adults in the car with them.

The eighteen-year-old shook her head "It's nothing… Just – remembering, you know?"

"I'm sorry," the Doctor murmured, understanding colouring his voice.

"Not your fault," Kaya shrugged "I'm fine, really."

The Time Lord watched her for a moment longer before nodding reluctantly going back to the topic at hand "How far did you get in twelve years?" he questioned, turning to look at Branigan "Where did you start?"

"Battery Park," the cat man pointed out "It's five miles back."

"You drove five miles in twelve years?" Kaya gaped in shock. The amount of exhaust here in the tunnel was bad enough but only moving five miles in twelve years was… unbelievable. Shouldn't people have gotten rid of exhaust this far in the future? The cars were already flying, why couldn't they have worked out the problem with the fumes as well? The Shifter knew that it was possible.

"I think they're a bit slow," Branigan whispered to Valerie.

The woman slapped him on the arm "Where are you from?" Valerie questioned, studying both of the time travellers curiously.

"Never mind that," the Doctor waved off "We've got to get out. Our friend's in one of these cars. She was taken hostage. We should get back to the Tardis."

Branigan shook his furry head, ears twitching slightly underneath the cap "You're too late for that. We've passed the lay-by. You're passengers now."

"When's the next lay-by?" the Time Lord demanded, his brain working furiously, trying to find a way to get Martha out of the situation she had gotten in. Surprisingly, it didn't happen while his Companion wandered off. That had to be a first…

Branigan tilted his head "Oh… Six months?"

The Time Lord gaped at him for a moment before he caught himself "We can't wait that long…" He surged forward, towards the communicator "I need to talk to the police."

" _Thank you for your call,_ " the computer said " _You've been placed on hold._ "

"But you're the police," the Doctor blinked.

" _Thank you for your call. You've been placed on hold,_ " it repeated.

"Is there anyone else?" the Doctor sighed, looking over at Branigan "I once met the Duke of Manhattan. Is there a way to get through to him?"

Branigan chuckled "Oh now, ain't you lordly?"

"We need to find our friend," the Time Lord pressed, trying to make them understand how urgent this was.

Valerie shook her head "You can't make outside calls. The motorway's completely enclosed."

"How very convenient," Kaya grumbled, fingering the beaded braid in her hair.

"What about other cars?"

"Oh, we've got contact with them, yeah," Branigan nodded "Well, some of them, anyway. They've got to be on your friends list. Now, let's see. Who's nearby? Ah, the Cassini sisters." The screen showed a picture of two older women alone with a number… 317a1 "Still your hearts, my handsome girls. It's Branigan here."

One of the women rolled her eyes " _Get off the line, Branigan. You're a pest and a menace._ "

"Oh, come now, sisters. Is that any way to talk to an old friend?" the cat man chided with a grin.

" _You know full well we're not sisters,_ " the same woman shot back " _We're married._ "

Branigan shook his head "Oh, stop that modern talk. I'm an old-fashioned cat. Now, I've got hitchhikers here. One calls himself the Doctor."

"Hello," the Doctor waved "Sorry. I'm looking for someone called Martha Jones. She's been carjacked. She's inside one of these vehicles but I don't know which one."

The second woman put down her knitting, grabbing a huge book " _Wait a minute. Could I ask, what entrance did they use?_ "

The Time Lord blinked before looking to Branigan. He nodded "Where were we?"

"Pharmacy Town," the cat man replied.

"Pharmacy Town," the Doctor repeated, going back to looking at the women "About twenty minutes ago."

The older woman hummed " _Let's have a look._ "

May started leafing through the book, while Alice chuckled " _Just my l_ _uc_ _k to marry a car-spotter._ "

" _In the last half hour, fifty-three new cars joined from the Pharmacy Town,_ " the woman with the book cut in.

"Anything more specific?" the Time Lord asked impatiently.

May looked up at him for a moment " _All in good time,_ " she soothed " _Was she car-jacked by two people?"_

"Yes," Kaya nodded, her hand coming to rest on the Doctor's shoulder. The Time Lord relaxed a little in her grip but continued to look at the screen urgently.

The woman looked back down at her book " _Ah, there we are. Just one of those cars was destined for the fast lane. That means they had three on board. And car number is four-six five-diamond six._ "

"That's it," the Doctor exclaimed "So how do we find them?"

" _Ah. Now there I'm afraid I can't help,_ " the woman shrugged apologetically.

The Time Lord turned to Branigan "Call them on this thing. We've got their number. Diamond six."

"But not if they're designated for the fast lane. It's a different class," Branigan shrugged.

May sighed " _You could try to call the police? It's everything I can tell you._ "

The Doctor wrapped his arms around Kaya's waist, causing her to automatically rest her head on his chest. He took a deep breath "We've got to go to the fast lane. Take us down."

"Not in a million years," Branigan scoffed.

"You've got four passengers," the Time Lord pointed out.

"I'm still not going."

"She's alone," the Doctor argued "And she's lost. She doesn't belong on this planet and it's all my fault. I'm asking you Branigan. Take me down."

"That's a no," the woman snapped in her husband's stead "And that's final. I'm not risking the children down there."

Kaya turned to look at Valerie "Why are you so against this? What happens down there?"

Valerie shook her head "We're not discussing it. The conversation is closed."

"So we keep on driving," the Doctor remarked, his expression set.

Branigan nodded "Yes, we do."

"For how long?"

"Till the journey ends."

The Doctor grabbed the radio handset "Mrs Cassini, this is the Doctor. Tell me, how long have you been driving on the motorway?"

" _Oh,_ " one of the Mrs Cassinis answered " _We were amongst the first. It's been twenty-three years now."_

The Doctor hummed "And in all that time, have you ever seen a police car?"

" _I'm – I'm not sure,_ " the book woman answered, exchanging an unsure glance with her wife.

The Time Lord nodded at the book on her lap "Look at your notes. Any police?"

" _Not as such._ "

"Or an ambulance?" the Doctor continued "Rescue service? Anything official. Ever."

The woman shook her head " _I can't keep a note of everything._ "

"What if there's no one out there?"

Branigan snatched the microphone back "Stop it. The Cassinis were doing you a favour."

"Someone's got to ask because you might not talk about it but it's there in your eyes. What if the traffic jam never stops?" the Doctor said, staring directly at all of the others.

"There's a whole city above us," Branigan pointed out "The mighty city-state of New New York. They wouldn't just leave us."

"But what if there isn't?" Kaya murmured "I lived in a small town – and even there the police was always reachable."

"What if there's no help coming, not ever?" the Doctor continued, nodding to the Shifter's point "What if there's nothing? Just the motorway, with the cars going round and round and round, never stopping. Forever."

Valerie had tears in her eyes as she clutched her ears "Shut up," she hissed "Just… Shut up."

" _This is Sally Calypso,_ " the computer piped up " _And it's that time again. The sun is blazing high in the sky over the New Atlantic, the perfect setting for the daily contemplation._ "

Branigan squared his shoulders "You think you know us so well, Doctor. But we're not abandoned. Not while we have each other."

" _This is for all you out there on the roads. We're so sorry. Drive safe._ "

Kaya tilted her head when everyone started singing. The Doctor looked on stoically, pulling the eighteen-year-old a little away from the two singing adults "We have to do something," he murmured.

"But what?" the girl asked "I mean, there is something seriously wrong here but I don't know what… Where is the police? How do they barely move?"

"I wish I knew," the Time Lord sighed "But we're just going to have to find out… Somehow."

Kaya tugged at her beads again "That means that we're going to have to go down, doesn't it?"

The Doctor nodded, looking over the girl's shoulder at Branigan "If you won't take us, we'll go down on our own." He crouched down by the trapdoor and pulled out his sonic.

"What do you think you're doing?" Branigan gasped in surprise.

"Finding my own way," the Time Lord pointed out "I usually do anyway." He sonicked the door open, looking down. A car stopped right beneath them, making the Doctor nod "Here we go." He shrugged out of his coat, throwing it at Valerie "Look after this. I love that coat. Janis Joplin gave me that coat. Kaya?"

"Right behind you, Hero," she smiled, tugging down her rolled-up sleeves.

Valerie started at the two with wide eyes "But you can't jump."

"If it's any consolation, Valerie," the Doctor grinned "Right now, I'm having kittens."

Branigan looked at them "This Martha. She must mean an awful lot to you."

"Hardly know her," the Time Lord shook his head "I was too busy showing off… Anyway, bye then." He dropped down onto the roof of the car below, Kaya following a second behind. The Doctor was about to reach out to steady the Shifter but he didn't expect her to move as gracefully as she did "How did you…?" he coughed at the fumes invading his lungs again.

" _Capsule open,_ " the computer announced as the Time Lord opened the roof hatch, dropping in on a man with very pale skin.

"Who the hell are you two?" the man demanded in surprise.

The Doctor looked at him, already looking for the hatch "Sorry, Motorway Foot Patrol. I'm doing a survey. How are you enjoying your motorway?"

"Well, not very much," the man huffed "Junction Five's been closed for three years."

The Doctor yanked the floor hatch open, hanging his legs out, waiting for a car to stop underneath "Thank you. Your comments have been notes. Have a nice day."

" _Capsule open,_ " the next computer announced.

"How are you doing this?" the Time Lord gasped, looking at Kaya.

The Shifter shrugged "I have no idea what you mean."

"You're freakishly graceful." He coughed a little, grabbing a small blue headscarf along with a black one. He handed the black one over "Thank you for your cooperation. Do you mind if I borrow this?"

Kaya grinned "Ah, well. Come on, let's get going."

" _Capsule open._ "

As soon as the Time Lord saw the people in the car they jumped in, he positioned himself in front of Kaya, blocking her view "Ah, Don't mind us…" The two continued to jump from layer to layer with the Doctor still occasionally throwing Kaya jealous looks when he stumbled from the impacts.

" _Capsule open._ "

A man in a bowler hat and pinstripe suit whirled around "Excuse me?" he exclaimed "Is that legal?"

"Sorry," the Doctor panted, leaning against the side of the car heavily while the Shifter coughed into her elbow "Motorway Foot Patrol. Whatever. Have you got any water?"

"Certainly," the man nodded, filling up a cone of water, passing it over "Never let it be said I've lost my manners." The Doctor took it, handing it to Kaya before accepting his own.

The Doctor took a big gulp, emptying his cone "Is this the last layer?"

"We're right at the bottom. Nothing below us but the fast lane."

"Can we drive down?" the Time Lord asked, rubbing Kaya's back worriedly when she started coughing again.

The man looked uncomfortable "We could but…"

"Doctor," the eighteen-year-old spoke up quietly "You heard what the others said… I don't think we really want that."

He looked at the girl for a moment before moving over to the hatch, opening it. The man at the front let out a startled noise "You can't jump," he breathed "It's a thousand feet down."

"No, I just want to look," the Time Lord murmured as a growl echoed from below "What's that noise?"

Kaya shivered at the noises she could hear "I don't know… But I don't think I want to know either."

"I try not to think about it," the man swallowed, nodding in agreement with the Shifter.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes, staring down into the smog "What are those lights?" he mused "What's down there? I just need to see." He sonicked the car computer "There must be some sort of ventilation. If I could just transmit a pulse through this thing, maybe I could trip the system, give us a bit of a breeze. Kaya, can you help me?"

"I can try," the eighteen-year-old shrugged, kneeling down next to the control panel "What exactly do you want to do?"

The Doctor pointed to a specific part that was wired into the car "We need something to shift the fumes."

Kaya hummed, studying the wires in front of her "So if we could rewire this to… Yeah, I think that could work." She fumbled with the wires for a moment before looking up at the Doctor "I don't really know the system but… This should work, right?"

"It will," the Time Lord agreed, reaching over to shift two wires "Correction, now it will. Let's check it out."

The man joined us at the hatch, squinting down "What are those shapes?"

"They're alive," the Doctor blinked as giant claws snapped up at us.

"That is slightly creepy," Kaya grumbled, shifting a little closer to the Doctor.

The Time Lord stiffened as he recognized the creatures "Macra." He pulled back from the hole "The Macra used to be the scourge of this galaxy. Gas… They fed off has, the filthier the better. They built up a small empire using humans as slaves and mining gas for food."

"They don't exactly look like empire builders to me," the man pointed out.

"Evolution," the Doctor shrugged "That was billions of years ago. Billions. They must have devolved down the years. Now, they're just beasts. But they're still hungry and our friend's down there…"

A clang on the roof made the three in the car flinch "Oh, it's like Times Square in here, for goodness's sake," the man huffed.

A cat-woman dropped through the roof hatch, causing the Doctor to grin "We've invented a sport, Kaya."

"Doctor," Hame nodded, studying the man who hadn't changed at all since she last saw him. Only the girl with him was new "You're a hard man to find."

The man noticed the gun clutched in the cat's hands "No guns. I'm not having guns."

"I only brought this in case of pirates," Hame shrugged "Doctor, you've got to come with me."

The Doctor mustered the cat in front of him, trying to place where he saw her before "Novice Hame," he exclaimed, hugging the woman before pulling back quickly "No, hold on, get off. Last time we met, you were breeding humans for experimentation."

"I've sought forgiveness," Hame explained "Doctor, for so many years under his guidance. And if you come with me, I might finally be able to redeem myself."

"I'm not going anywhere," the Time Lord shook his head "You've got Macra living underneath this city. Macra! And if my friend's still alive, she's stuck down there."

Hame reached out to grab his arm "You've got to come with me right now."

"No, no, no," the Doctor hissed, making to go into a rant when he was interrupted.

"I'm sorry, Doctor," Hame sighed "But the situation is even worse than you can imagine."

Kaya looked over at her "Doctor, I really think you should go with her. You can't solve this situation from down here… Going down into the fast-lane is suicide…"

"She's right, Doctor," the cat woman agreed, holding out her hand for the Time Lord to take. She tilted her head at Kaya, gesturing for her to come over "Transport."

The Doctor made to rip his hand away but was too late "Don't you dare. Don't you…"

"Ouch," Kaya whispered, rubbing at the back of her head that she had hit when she fell.

The Doctor groaned "Oh! Rough teleport. Ow." He whirled around to face Hame "You can go straight back down and teleport people out, starting with Martha."

Hame bit her lip "I only had the power for one trip."

"Then get some more," the Time Lord hissed "Where are we?"

"High above," the cat-woman said "In the over-city."

The Doctor made a noise "Good. Because you can tell the Senate of New New York I's like a word. They have got thousands of people trapped on the motorway. Millions."

"But you're inside the Senate," Hame pointed out "Right now. May the Goddess Santori bless them." She pressed a button on her teleport bracelet, making the area light up. The whole Senate was populated by skeletons "They died, Doctor. The city died."

"How long has it been like this?" the Time Lord questioned.

Hame smiled sadly "Twenty-four years."

Kaya made her way towards the closest corpse, crouching down to look at it. She reached out to pluck the small sticky square from the person's neck "Bliss?"

"A new chemical," the cat woman explained, taking the sticker from the Shifter "A new mood. Everyone tried it. They couldn't stop. A virus mutated inside the compound and became airborne. Everything perished. Even the virus… in the end. It killed the world in seven minutes flat. There was just enough time to close down the walkways and the flyovers, sealing off the under-city." She paused, looking up at the Doctor "Those people on the motorway aren't lost, Doctor. They were saved."

Realization dawned on the Time Lord "So the whole thing down there is running on automatic."

"There's not enough power to get them out. We did all we could to stop the system from choking," Hame said.

The Doctor tiled his head "Who's we? How did you survive?"

Hame gestured towards the other end of the room "He protected me. And he has waited for you, these long years."

" _Doctor,_ " an old voice echoed through all their heads.

"The Face of Boe," the Time Lord breathed, glancing over at Kaya who was blinking at the huge head "Kaya, meet the Face of Boe. I've run into him a few times."

"Nice to meet you," the Shifter smiled lightly.

" _I knew you would come,_ " Boe breathed, sounding tired.

Hame took a seat on the chair next to the tank "Back in the old days, I was made his nurse as penance for my sin."

The Doctor sank down in front of the Face of Boe "Old friend, what happened to you?"

" _Failing._ "

"He protected me from the virus by shrouding me in his smoke," Hame told the other two "But with no one to maintain it, the City's power died. The under-city would have fallen into the sea."

"But there are cities out there," the Doctor pointed out "Planets. You could have called for help."

Hame shook her head sadly "The last act of the Senate was to declare New Earth unsafe. The automatic quarantine lasts for one hundred years."

"So the two of you stayed here, on your own for all these years," the Doctor remarked, quietly impressed with both of them.

"We had no choice," Hame shrugged.

The Time Lord smiled "Yes, you did."

" _Save them, Doctor,_ " Boe implored " _Save them._ "

The Doctor got working "Kaya, can you see if you can help me with this?"

The Shifter looked at the computer before shaking her head "I might have managed the car since it wasn't that different from cars in our time but… Doctor, I have no idea what half of this does."

"The I'll show you," he said, holding out his hand, explaining what went where and how to get the system back online. Eventually, the two got a computer working. The Doctor studied the screen "Car four-six five-diamond six. It still registers," he exclaimed with relief colouring his voice. He might think about bringing Martha back home – in fact, he was bringing her back home after this but he didn't want her dead… "That's Martha. I knew she was good. Novice Hame, hold that in place. Think, think, think, think. Take the residual energy, invert it, feed it through the electricity grid."

"There isn't enough power," Hame pointed out.

"Oh, you've got power," the Time Lord shot back "You've got me. I'm brilliant with computers and Kaya is a quick learner – really quick actually, just you watch. Hame, every switch on that bank up to maximum. I can't power up the city, but all the city needs are people."

The cat-nun-nurse licked her lips "So what are you going to do?"

"This." The Doctor threw a big switch, causing all the lights to go out "No, no, no, no, no, no. The transformers are blocked. The signal can't get through."

" _Doctor,_ " the Face of Boe rasped out " _Doctor, I give you my last…_ " He breathed out and the power came back online. Kaya looked at him, seeing a wave of power leave the tank.

The Doctor glanced over his shoulder "Hame, look after him. Don't you go dying on me, you big old face. You've got to see this. The open road. Ha!" He worked some more, causing the roof hatches to open. He jumped onto a platform and grabbed the mic "Sorry, no Sally Calypso. She was just a hologram. My name's the Doctor and this is an order. Everyone drive up. Right now." He paused and when he saw that no one moved, he continued "I opened the roof of the motorway. Come on. Throttle those engines. Drive up. All of you. The whole under-city. Drive up, drive up, drive up! Fast. We've got to clear that fast lane. Drive up and get out of the way." The Time Lord glanced at the monitor and took a deep breath "Oi! Car four-six five-diamond six. Martha! Drive up. You've got access above. Now go. You keep driving, Branigan," the Doctor exclaimed happily "All the way up. Because it's here, just waiting for you. The city of New New York and it's yours. And don't forget I want that coat back." The Doctor was still focussed on the screen as Kaya made her way to the Face of Boe, stopped a little ways away – unsure.

" _You can come closer,"_ Boe said tiredly " _I promise I won't bite._ "

Kaya sent him a sheepish smile, sinking to the floor by Hame "Sorry. I'm not quite used to… all this yet. Cat people – alright but a huge head is a little bit of a stretch."

Boe chuckled " _I can see that._ "

"Car four-six five-diamond six, I've sent you a flight path. Come to the Senate." Kaya heard Martha's voice in the background but it was too quiet to understand "It's been a while since I saw you, Martha Jones." All of a sudden, a crack started spreading across Boe's tank "Oh, no, you don't," the Doctor huffed, running over to us.

"Doctor?" Martha called out a little while later, the Doctor's coat clutched in her hands. She had met a cat man at the entrance of the building who handed it to her before leaving again "Doctor?" Martha breathed "What happened out there?" Her gaze fell on Boe, causing her to freeze "What's that."

The Doctor glanced over his shoulder "It's the Face of Boe. It's alright. Come and say hello. And this is Hame. She's a cat. Don't worry." He smiled lightly, his hand resting on the big head's cheek "He's the one that saved you, not me."

"My lord gave his life to save the city," Hame whispered "And now he's dying."

"No," the Doctor snapped "Don't say that. Not old Boe. Plenty of life left."

Boe inhaled " _It's good to breathe the air once more,_ " he rasped.

"Who is he?" Martha questioned, kneeling down next to the Doctor, away from Kaya and the weird cat lady.

The Doctor shrugged "I don't even know but legend says the Face of Boe has lived for billions of years. Isn't that right? And you're not about to give up now."

" _Everything has its time,_ " Boe said " _You know that, old friend, better than most._ "

Hame looked up at the Time Lord "The legend says more."

"Don't," the Doctor shook his head "There's no need for that."

"It says that the Face of Boe will speak his final secret to a traveller and his wolf," Hame continued.

The Time Lord closed his eyes in pain… When he first heard about the wolf part, he thought that the legend was about him and Rose but she was gone now. There was no wolf here – only him… "Yeah, but not yet. Who needs secrets, eh?"

" _I have seen so much,_ " the Face of Boe murmured " _Perhaps too much. I am the last of my kind, as you are the last of yours, Doctor._ "

"That's why we have to survive," the Doctor whispered "Both of us. Don't go."

Boe looked up at them " _I must. But know this, Time Lord. You are not alone._ " With that, he let out one last breath before his eyes closed. Hame started weeping next to Kaya, causing the Shifter to wrap an arm around her shoulders.

By the time we got back to Pharmacy Town, Kaya was walking next to the Time Lord, sticking close to his side, doing her best to sooth him mentally. The Doctor looked around the closed shops with faked happiness "All closed down."

Martha smiled "Happy?" She had given up on asking questions about what the Face of Boe had meant a while back.

"Happy Happy," the Time Lord nodded "New New York can start again. And they've got Novice Hame. Just what every city needs. Cats in charge. Come on, time we were off."

"But what did he mean?" the medical student questioned "The Face of Boe? You're not alone."

The Doctor looked over at her "I don't know."

"You've got me," Martha said, pointing to herself "Is that what he meant?"

"I don't think so. Sorry."

Martha crossed her arms "Then what?"

"Doesn't matter," the Time Lord shrugged off "Back to the Tardis, off we go." He blinked for a moment "Alright, are you staying?"

Martha spoke up, arms and legs crossed determinedly "Till you talk to me properly, yes. He said last of your kind. What does that mean?"

"It really doesn't matter," the Doctor shrugged.

Martha groaned "You don't talk. You never say. Why not?"

" _Fast falls the eventide._ "

"It's the city," the medical student breathed, looking to the sky in wonder.

" _The darkness deepens…_ "

Martha smiled and continued "They're singing."

" _Lord, with me abide. When other helpers fail…_ "

"I lied to you because I liked it," the Doctor sighed, grabbing a second chair "I could pretend. Just for a bit, I could imagine they were still alive, underneath a burnt orange sky. I'm not just a Time Lord. I'm the last of the Time Lords. The Face of Boe was wrong. There's no one else."

Martha's gaze turned sad "What happened?"

"You don't have to tell us," Kaya cut in, sending a small glare at Martha "It's really none of our business." The pain radiating from the Time Lord was almost too much and Kaya didn't like it. Normally, she didn't feel her Imprint's feeling too strongly but now? His pain was almost blinding and he was projecting it across the bond unknowingly.

" _Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day._ "

"There was a war," the Doctor whispered, reaching out to grab the Shifter's hand "A Time War. The Last Great Time War. My people fought a race called the Daleks, for the sake of all creation. And they lost. They lost." He looked up with sorrow in his eyes "Everyone lost. They're all gone now. My family, my friends, even that sky. Oh, you should have seen it, that old planet. The second sun would rise in the south and the mountains would shine. The leaves on the trees were silver and when they caught the light every morning, it looked like a forest on fire. When the autumn came, the breeze would blow through the branches like a song."

" _The darkness deepens. Lord, with me abide._ "

A little while later, Martha went back to her room, while Kaya went to find the library. She really wanted to learn more about everything the world had to offer. The technology she had seen today was really interesting and as much she understood, there was an equal amount, she didn't understand at all.

"Aren't you tired?" the Time Lord asked once he walked into the room, seeing the eighteen-year-old curled on one of the huge armchairs.

"A little," Kaya admitted "But I wanted to look this up before I forget."

The Doctor lifted the book to look at the title, his eyebrows rising in surprise "Sonic Technology Through the Ages?"

"The Tardis gave it to me," Kaya shrugged "No idea."

"Do you understand what it says?"

The Shifter hummed "Most of it. There are some theories that I don't get but… I can look those up easily enough." She placed the book to the side "You look like you want to say something."

"I'm taking Martha back home tomorrow," he burst out "I mean, I promised her a trip…"

Kaya tilted her head "I don't understand why you want to leave her at home and take me along."

"I saw how she treats you," the Time Lord pointed out "And I won't have that on board. Also, we still have that bet, don't we."

The Shifter bit her lip "I guess… But –" She paused for a moment, unsure of how to word what was going through her mind "Maybe you should give her one more trip? I mean, she did get kidnapped and almost died, so this one really shouldn't count."

"Are you sure?" the Doctor asked.

Kaya shrugged "Yeah."

"Then that's alright with me," he said, leaning back against the back of the sofa "I still don't like how she's treating you."

"I had worse," the Shifter told him "It's really not that bad."

The Doctor's eyes narrowed "One day, you'll tell me what all that is about. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that…" He trailed off, shaking the though out of his mind "Never mind. I'll let you get back to your book."

"Doctor?" Kaya called when the man went to walk out "I'm sorry. About the Face of Boe."

"Yeah," he whispered "So am I."


	6. Daleks in Manhattan

The Tardis materialised in one of the corners of the eleven-pointed Army base exterior wall of Bedloe's Island. Almost as soon as the Tardis had quieted down, Martha was outside. She didn't even let the Doctor say anything about their destination. Earlier, before Kaya had come to the console room, he had taken her aside and told her flat out that she would only be there for another trip. Nothing more. He didn't think the medical student worked well with both Kaya and himself. Martha didn't believe that though. This was probably all on Kaya somehow but that didn't matter to the other girl. She would show the Doctor that she should be travelling with him and soon, he would see her as – hopefully – more than a friend "Where are we?"

The Doctor stepped out with Kaya only a few moments behind "Ah," he sighed, breathing in deeply "Smell that Atlantic breeze. Nice and cold. Lovely. Martha, Kaya, have you met my friend?" His finger pointed upwards.

"New York?" the Shifted breathed "We're in New York?"

"Gateway to the New World," the Time Lord nodded "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free." He looked over at the younger of the two girls "Have you ever been?"

Kaya shook his head "No. My…" she cleared her throat "My mother wanted to take my siblings and me on a trip but… She died before we could and after that… Well, my father wasn't really up to travelling anymore."

"I'm sorry," he murmured, placing his hand on her shoulder to lend as much comfort as he possibly could.

Martha was still looking up at the Statue of Liberty in amazement "That's so brilliant," she laughed "I've always wanted to go to New York. I mean the real New York, not the New, New, New, New, New one."

"Well," the Time Lord shrugged, squeezing Kaya's shoulder before retreating his hand "There's the genuine article. So good, they named it twice. Mind you, it was New Amsterdam originally. Harder to say twice. No wonder it didn't catch on… New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam."

Martha rolled her eyes at the man and squinted into the distance where the Empire State Building was visible "I wonder what year it is, because look, the Empire State Building's not even finished yet."

"Work in progress," the Doctor explained "Still got a couple of floors to go and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around…"

Martha snatched a newspaper from Kaya's hand who had been reading the front page with a frown "November first, 1930."

The Time Lord turned to her in surprise "You're getting good at this," he complimented before seeing the newspaper.

"Eighty years ago," the medical student hummed "It's funny because you see all those old newsreels all in black and white like it's so far away but here we are. It's real. It's now."

Kaya raised her eyebrow "You… Did you only get that now?" When Martha shot her a look, the eighteen-year-old raised her hands "I'm only asking because we've been to 1599 and sorry but that was a bit more impressive."

"I thought you didn't like Shakespeare," the Doctor pointed out.

"I didn't," the Shifter grinned "But I can admit that it was more impressive. Then again, the year five billion was pretty awesome. I think that was my favourite so far."

The Doctor was about to answer when the front page of the newspaper caught his attention "I think our detour just got longer," he murmured.

"I read that earlier," Kaya said "I don't understand how people can just disappear and no one gives one shit?"

"That's the rich for you," the Time Lord grumbled "Come on, we're going to check out."

The three of them got back into the Tardis to bring them closer to Central Park. The Doctor practically ran back out of the blue box as soon as she landed, staring the short track through Central Park "Herbert Hoover, thirty-first President of the USA, came to power a year ago. Up till then, New York was a boomtown, the Roaring Twenties and then…"

"The Wall Street Crash," Martha realized "When was that, 1929?"

The Doctor nodded absentmindedly, looking around "Yeah. Whole economy wiped out overnight. Thousands of people unemployed. All of a sudden, the huddled masses doubled in number with nowhere to go. So… They ended up here in Central Park."

"What, they actually live in the park?" Martha blinked "In the middle of the city?"

"Funny how that works, isn't it?" Kaya asked quietly. Her eyes were trained on the shantytown that was overlooked by the Manhattan skyscrapers rising up all around.

The Doctor stuffed his hands into his pockets to stop himself for reaching out for Kaya's hand "Ordinary people lost their jobs. Couldn't pay the rent and they lost everything. There are places like this all over America. No one's helping them. You only come to Hooverville when there's nowhere else to go."

"You thieving lowlife," a black man shouted, running at another one and even Kaya's wolf hearing couldn't pick up the words the man said next.

The other man shook his head "I didn't touch it," he shouted back.

"Somebody stole it." Was the only answer he got.

"Cut that out," another black man called, coming out of the tent that was nearby "Cut that out right now." He broke up the fight within a minute.

The first man gestured to the man he had been fighting with "He stole my bread."

"That's enough," Solomon snapped, turning to the second man "Did you take it?"

"I don't know what happened," the man shook his head "He just went crazy."

Solomon's eyes narrowed "That's enough. Now, think real careful before you lie to me."

The man went to say something else when his shoulders dropped "I'm starving, Solomon."

"We're all starving," Solomon told him, holding out his hand for the loaf of bread "We all got families somewhere." He broke the bread in half, handing a piece to both of the men "No stealing and no fighting. You know the rules. Thirteen years ago I fought in the Great War. A lot of us did. And the only reason we got through was because we stuck together. No matter how bad things get, we still act like human beings. It's all we got."

The Doctor poked Kaya and nodded towards the retreating man "Come on," he murmured and went to follow Solomon "I suppose that makes you the boss around here."

"And, er, who might you be?" Solomon asked, looking the Doctor up and down.

"He's the Doctor," Martha cut in "I'm Martha and that's Kaya."

Solomon raised his eyebrows "A doctor." He shrugged "Huh… Well, we got stockbrokers, we got a lawyer but you're the first doctor. Neighbourhood gets classier by the day."

"How many people live here?"

"At any one time, hundreds," the man replied "No place else to go. But I will say this about Hooverville. We are a truly equal society. Black, white, all the same. All starving. So you're welcome, all three of you. But tell me." Solomon looked over at the Time Lord "Doctor, you're a man of learning, right? Explain this to me." He pointed to the almost finished Empire State Building "That there's going to be the tallest building in the world. How come they can do that when we got people starving in the heart of Manhattan."

The group of four walked through the camp, still talking about the situation in the camp. The Doctor tilted his head in curiosity "So, men are going missing. Is this true?"

Solomon scoffed and opened the flap to his tent "It's true alright."

"But what does missing mean?" the Time Lord asked "Men must come and go here all the time. It's not like anyone's keeping a register."

"Come on in," the other man gestured, stepping to the side "This is different."

Martha frowned "In what way?"

"Someone takes them," Solomon said "At night. We hear something, someone calls out for help. By the time we get there, they're gone like they vanish into thin air."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes "And you're sure someone's taking them?"

"Doctor," the other man started with a sigh, sitting down on the bed "When you got next to nothing, you hold on to the little you got. Your knife, blanket, you take it with you. You don't leave bread uneaten, fire still burning."

Kaya looked at the man with sympathy "The police won't help?"

Solomon snorted "No. Another deadbeat goes missing… Big deal."

"So the question is, who's taking them and what for," the Doctor nodded, his mind already going a mile a minute. Mystery indeed.

"Solomon," a voice called from the outside before a boy around Kaya's age ran inside "Solomon, Mister Diagoras is here."

Solomon let out a groan, pinching the bridge of his nose but left the tent with the three-time travellers following behind. On a stone at the entrance of Hooverville was a man with a small crowd gathered in front of him "I need men," Diagoras called out over the group of people "Volunteers. I've got a little work for you and you sure look like you could use the money."

"Yeah," Frank scoffed, his tone holding a challenge "What's the money?"

"A dollar a day," the man in the suit shrugged.

Solomon narrowed his eyes "What's the work?"

"A little trip down the sewers," Diagoras explained, all too happy that some of the idiots seemed to be interested "Got a tunnel collapsed needs clearing and fixing. Any takers?"

"A dollar a day?" Solomon spoke up again "That's slave wage. And men don't always come back up, do they?"

Diagoras had a small smirk on his face "Accidents happen."

"What do you mean?" the Doctor cut in, raising his hand "What sort of accidents?"

"You don't need work?" the man asked, ignoring what the Doctor had said "That's fine. Anybody else?" The Time Lord raised his hand again "Enough with the questions."

The Doctor pretended to be shocked at the exclamation, making Kaya giggle at him "Oh, no, no, no. I'm volunteering. I'll go."

"Me too," Kaya shrugged, raising her hand. She wasn't about to let her Imprint anywhere near this on his own. She was sure that he could hold his own against whatever was going on but that didn't mean that she liked it. This practically smelt like a trap.

Martha raised her hand before the eighteen-year-old had even finished speaking, narrowing her eyes at the Doctor "I'll kill you for this."

"Anybody else?" Diagoras asked, happy that at least three people fell for his thing. Really, he was surprised at how stupid desperate people could be. Frank and Solomon also raised their hands. Diagoras nodded, waving at the group of five to follow. At the entrance of the sewers, the man stopped "Turn left. Go about half aa mile. Follow tunnel two seven three. Falls's right ahead of you, you can't miss it."

Frank crossed his arms, glaring at Diagoras "And when do we get our dollar?"

"When you come back up."

Kaya grimaced at the tone "And… What if we don't come back up?"

Diagoras grinned at her "Then I got no one to pay."

"Don't worry," Solomon hissed, his hand coming to rest on the Shifter's shoulder in comfort "We'll be back."

"Let's hope so," Martha muttered and followed Frank down into the sewers with Kaya and Solomon a step behind. The Doctor stayed behind for a moment, staring into Diagoras' eyes for a moment before turning on his heels.

Once down, Frank turned towards the others "We just got to stick together. It's easy to get lost. It's like a huge warren. You could hide an army down here." With that said, he started leading through the corridors.

"So what about you, Frank?" Martha spoke up after a few minutes of silence "You're not from around these parts, are you?"

Frank snorted, shaking his head "Oh, you could talk. No, I'm Tennessee born and bread."

"So how come you're here?" the medical student asked curiously.

"My daddy died," the boy explained quietly "Mama couldn't afford to feed us all. So, I'm the oldest, up to me to feed myself. So I put on my coat, hitched up here on the railroads: There's a whole lot of runaways in the camp, younger than me, from all over. Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas. Solomon keeps a lookout for us." He cleared his throat and glanced over at Kaya "You're Indian, aren't you?"

Kaya blinked up at him, not having paid much attention to their conversation. It wasn't her business why Frank was here and honestly, she felt bad for him and all the boys. So she was a little surprised at being spoken to "Yes," she nodded "Well, Native American in any case."

"I didn't think your people leave their territories much," Frank murmured, his head tilted in confusion.

The Shifter shrugged "The reservation wasn't… I didn't feel like it was my home anymore," Kaya told him "In a way, I think it was a good decision to leave and while I miss my father… I'm glad that I'm here."

"You two just stick with me," Frank nodded, his eyes holding sympathy for my situation "You'll be alright."

The Doctor who had listened to their conversation, silently brooding on this whole thing, spoke up "So this Diagoras bloke… Who is he then?"

Solomon looked over at the other man "A couple of months ago, he was just another foreman. Now, it seems like he's running most of Manhattan."

"What?" Kaya frowned "How?"

"How did he manage that?" the Doctor asked in confusion.

Solomon shrugged "These are strange times. A man can go from being King of the Hill to the lowest of the low overnight. It's just for some folks it works the other way around."

The Doctor was about to comment when he noticed something on the ground "Whoa," he breathed, his torch shining onto a luminous green jellyfish that was lying on the ground in front of the group.

"Is it radioactive or something?" Martha frowned "It's gone off, whatever it is." The Doctor crouched down and picked it up with his bare hands "And… you've got to pick it up."

Even Kaya took a step back "Whatever it is, it doesn't smell too great either."

The Doctor raised his eyebrow "We're in the sewers," he pointed out with a small grin.

"But that thing is worse than the sewer," the Shifter huffed.

"Shine your torch through it," the Time Lord said, shifting to the side to allow the light to hit the thing in his hand "Composite organic matter."

Martha licked her lips "In my opinion, whatever it is, it's not human. I know that."

"No," the Doctor agreed "It's not. And I'll tell you something else. We must be at least half a mile in. I don't see any sign of a collapse, do you?" He straightened up, making Kaya back up some more when he didn't drop the jellyfish thing. Her nose was itching again "So why did Mister Diagoras send us down here?"

Martha looked around "Where are we now? What's above us?"

"Well, we're right underneath Manhattan," the Time Lord explained.

Solomon had walked a little further, standing underneath a manhole cover that was shedding some light on him. He shook his head "We're way beyond half a mile. There's no collapse. Nothing."

"So why'd Diagoras want people to come down here?" the boy asked.

"Obvious trap is obvious," Kaya whispered to herself, making Frank look over since he was the closest to her.

The Doctor stiffened a little "Solomon, I think it's time you took these three back. I'll be much quicker on my own."

A loud squeal echoed around them. Solomon jumped "What the hell was that?"

"Hello?" Frank called out, looking around with his torchlight bouncing off the walls.

"Shush," Martha hissed.

Solomon went to reach out for Frank but the boy avoided his hand "Frank."

"What if it's one of the folks gone missing?" Frank questioned "You'd be scared and half-mad down here on your own."

The Doctor looked at him seriously "Do you think they're still alive?"

"Frank, I don't think that's…"

"Heck, we ain't seen no bodies down here," Frank exclaimed "Maybe they just got lost."

More squealing and now Solomon was even warier "I know I never heard nobody make a sound like that."

"Where's it coming from?" Frank whispered "Sounds like there's more than one of them."

The Time Lord gestured "This way."

"No, that way," Solomon said at the same time as Kaya. The Shifter had her head tilted to the side, eyes narrowed. The Doctor looked at her, his mind comparing her to a bloodhound or something similar. She seemed more than ready to run off and chase down the thing making the noise. It hadn't even been the first time, he noticed something weird about Kaya. That's why he wanted the Tardis to check but no. Little Miss Sexy just had to delete the scan before it was done.

When Solomon's torch lit up a figure crouched in a corner against a wall, Martha let out a gasp "Doctor?"

"Who are you?" Solomon called out.

Frank took a step forward "Are you lost?" the boy asked cautiously "Can you understand me? I've been thinking about folks lost down…"

"It's alright, Frank," the Doctor murmured, stopping the boy from getting closer by putting himself in the way "Just stay back. Let me have a look. He's got a point, though, my mate Frank." The Time Lord slowly walked closer, craning his neck to see the figure better "I'd hate to be stuck down here on my own. We know the way out. Daylight. If you come with us." He froze when he saw that the man was actually a pig "Oh, but what are you?"

Solomon swallowed nervously "Is that – er – some kind of carnival mask?"

"No," the Doctor shook his head "It's real." He stared at the figure with sad eyes "I'm sorry. Now listen to me. I promise I can help. Who did this to you?"

Martha looked at the Time Lord with panic in her eyes. There were pigmen coming through the tunnel closest to the Doctor. Why did he always have to get her into situations like that? She might be into him but… These situations had to stop somehow. They were really annoying "Doctor? I think you'd better get back here. Doctor."

The Doctor blinked, looking over his shoulder and grimaced "Actually, good point." He hurried back towards the group and herded them into another branch of the corridor.

"They're following you," Martha pointed out. Kaya growled lowly, trying to stop her body from shaking. She couldn't turn. Not here, not now.

The Doctor shot the medical student a look "Yeah, I noticed that, thanks. Well then, Kaya, Martha, Solomon, Frank… Eh – Basically? Run." The pigs ran after them, bringing them back to a junction.

"Where are we going?" Martha demanded when they ran into a corridor they hadn't come through before.

The Doctor spotted a ladder and waved to the others "This way. It's a ladder, come on." He climbed up, using his sonic screwdriver to open the cover at the top. Down in the sewers, Frank grabbed an iron bar to ward off the pigmen as Martha pushed Kaya to the side, climbing up the ladder hurriedly.

Kaya kicked at one of the pigs that was about to grab Frank when Solomon called out for the two of them "Kaya. Frank."

"Come on," the Doctor called, holding out his hand "Kaya, Frank. Leave them and come on."

Kaya nodded and jumped, getting caught by the two men who pulled her up quickly. Solomon immediately fell back to his knees once Kaya was up "C'mon, Frank. Come on." As Frank had climbed up halfway up the ladder, the pigmen grabbed his legs. The boy's hands slipped through as he was pulled back down "Frank!"

"No," the Doctor cried out, hitting his hand against the side of the manhole cover.

Solomon looked down into the hole for a moment before he pushed the Doctor to the side, slamming the lid shut as the pigmen started to climb towards them "We can't go after him," the man pointed out.

"We've got to go back down," the Doctor said, making to open the lid again "We can't just leave him."

Solomon shook his head "No, I'm not losing anybody else. Those creatures were from Hell. From Hell itself. If we go after them, they'll take us all. There's nothing we can do. I'm sorry."

All of a sudden, a young woman stepped out from behind a rack and pointed a revolver at the group "Alright, then. Put them up," Tallulah demanded "Hands in the air and no funny business. Now tell me, you schmucks, what have you done with Laszlo?"

"Who's Laszlo?" Martha blinked.

Tallulah let out a hmpf and stormed off. The group exchanged confused looks and followed her to what appeared to be the young woman's dressing room "Laszlo's my boyfriend. Or was my boyfriend until he disappeared two weeks ago. No letter, no goodbye, no nothing. And I'm not stupid. I know some guys are just pigs but not my Laszlo."

"Some are a bit closer to a pig than others," Kaya remarked quietly, shrugging sheepishly when everyone turned to look at her.

"Anyway," Tallulah shook her head "I mean, what kind of guy asks you to meet his mother before he vamooses?"

The Doctor was still looking at the gun warily "Yeah. It might… might just help if you put that down."

The showgirl looked down at the gun in her hands and shrugged "Huh? Oh, sure." She threw it to the side, causing the others to jump "Oh, come on. It's not real. It's just a prop. It was either that or a spear."

"What do you think happened to Laszlo?" Martha questioned.

"I wish I knew," Tallulah grumbled, crossing her arms "One minute he's there, the next, zip. Vanished."

"Listen," the Doctor started "Er… What's your name?"

"Tallulah," the showgirl introduced herself.

The Time Lord nodded "Tallulah…"

Before he could continue, Tallulah started talking again "Three Ls and an H," she added.

"Right," the Doctor drew out "We can try to find Laszlo but he's not the only one. There are people disappearing every night."

Solomon nodded "And there are creatures," the man pointed out "Such creatures."

"What do you mean, creatures?" Tallulah frowned.

"Look," the Doctor sighed "Listen, just trust me. Everyone is in danger. I need to find out exactly what this is." He pulled out the jellyfish thing from his pocket, causing Kaya to flinch back.

She grimaced in disgust "You had that in your pocket? What the hell, Hero?"

"Yuck," Tallulah scrunched her nose up in disgust.

A little while later, Kaya was sitting on a table in the prop room, watching the Doctor scavenge for some parts he needed to look into that jellyfish thing he had put back into his pocket. She was currently putting together the parts the Doctor had handed her. He had to give the eighteen-year-old some pointers but other than that, she did pretty well.

Even if the Shifter hadn't smelt it in his pocket before, there was no way she was getting close to him while he was wearing that coat. Solomon popped out from a mannequin "How about this? I found it backstage."

"Perfect," the Doctor exclaimed "It's the capacitors I need. I'm just rigging up a crude little DNA scan for this beastie. If I can get a chromosomal reading, I can find out where it's from." He threw the part to Kaya and told her to hook it up to the almost finished gizmo in her lap.

"How about you, Doctor?" Solomon asked suddenly "Where are you from? I've been all over. I never heard anybody talk like you. Just exactly who are you?"

The Doctor looked up for a moment before leaning to watch over Kaya's shoulder, pointing out some small mistakes she made in the wiring. All in all, he was impressed with her work though. She had needed minimal instruction and still managed to get it almost right "Oh, I'm just sort of passing by."

"I'm not a fool, Doctor," the man pointed out.

The Time Lord grimaced "No. Sorry."

Solomon walked back to the sewer entrance, looking down at the closed lid "I was so scared, Doctor. I let them take Frank because I was just so scared. I got to get back to Hooverville. With these creatures on the loose, we got to protect ourselves. Ain't no one else going to help us."

"You shouldn't be ashamed or guilty," the Shifter spoke up "It's not every day you see pigmen or run for your life with them chasing after you."

"She's right, you know?" the Doctor agreed and put his hand out before the man could walk past him "And… Good luck."

Solomon nodded "I hope you find what you're looking for… for all our sakes." With that statement, he was gone.

Kaya looked over to the Doctor, grimacing when he had once again pulled out the jellyfish "So… Where do you want to do this?"

"Somewhere with spotlights. Come on," he waved at her to follow. The two found the lighting gallery, where the Doctor immediately got to work. He took the gizmo from Kaya, putting the jellyfish down for a moment before strapping it in place "Can you get me one of those lights from over there?"

"Sure," Kaya shrugged, going to push one of the spotlights to where the Time Lord was working.

He shot up, aiming the light at the jellyfish that was pinned in the gizmo "That's it," he mumbled, looking down at the thing with narrowed eyes "We need to heat you up." He pulled out his glasses and placed them on his nose, starting his examination.

While he was doing that, Kaya walked around the room curiously, looking at the electrics in the room. They were still very crude but then again… Compared to what she had seen in the year five billion the technology she knew was crude as well. It was interesting to see what a century could do in terms of technological advancements.

"This is artificial," the Doctor exclaimed suddenly.

" _Ladies and gentlemen. The Laurenzi,_ " the announcer called into the microphone outside.

The Time Lord looked up at Kaya "Genetically engineered. Whoever this is… Oh, they're clever."

"But where is it from?" the Shifter asked "Do you know?"

"No, not yet," the Doctor shook his head "But we're about to find out." He listened to the jellyfish with a stethoscope and his forehead wrinkled in concentration "Fundamental DNA type four sic seven dash nine eight nine." He scratched his head "Nine eight nine. Hold on, that means… Planet of origin…"

Kaya placed her hand on his shoulder "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Skaro," the Doctor breathed out.

"What?" the Shifter questioned.

The Time Lord swallowed "Planet of origin is Skaro. This is bad. Come on. We have to find Martha and get this resolved."

Kaya hurried after him "What's Skaro?"

"I'll explain everything later, alright?" the Doctor told the girl "But we have to go and get Martha." He spotted Tallulah with some other dancers and hurried over to her "Where is she? Where's Martha?"

Tallulah shook her head and shrugged "I don't know," she exclaimed "She ran off stage."

A scream echoed through backstage, causing the Doctor, Kaya and Tallulah to take off towards the sound "Martha," the Time Lord called out. They burst into the Props room, seeing that the sewer entrance lid hadn't been put back right.

"Where are you going?" Tallulah asked in alarm.

The Doctor pointed to the sewer "They've taken her."

Tallulah looked completely confused "Who's taken her? What're you doing?" The Doctor stepped to the side, allowing Kaya to jump down in front of him "I said, what the hell are you doing?"

When the showgirl climbed after the two travellers, the Doctor shook his head "No, no, no, no way. You're not coming."

"Tell me what's going on," Tallulah demanded quietly.

"There's nothing you can do," the Time Lord pointed out "Go back."

Kaya nudged him "Doctor, if Laszlo disappeared, don't you think he might be down here? I don't think she's going to go anytime soon."

"Yeah," Tallulah nodded.

The Doctor rubbed his forehead in exasperation "Tallulah, you're not safe down here."

"Then that's my problem," the young woman pointed out "Come on. Which way?" She walked down into a random direction, turning on her heel when the Doctor pointed in the other. The three were silent for a moment, walking in silence before Tallulah sighed "When you say 'they've taken her', who's they exactly? And who are you anyway? I never asked."

"Shush," the Doctor hissed.

Tallulah rolled her eyes "Okay, okay."

The Doctor pulled her into an alcove, pressing her against the wall "Kaya," he hissed, nodding his head to his other side. He stiffened when the shadow of a Dalek was cast on the wall just ahead of them.

"I mean you're handsome and all," Tallulah started, letting out a muffled curse when the Doctor pressed a hand to her mouth.

The Time Lord stared after the pepper pot, shaking his head as it hovered past them and away "No, no, no, no, no," he mumbled "They survived. They always survive while I lose everything."

Kaya felt his fear and anger radiating from him. It was the first time she felt him again. After he found out that that jellyfish thing was from Skaro, he had shut down. Now, she was being overwhelmed by the flood of emotion. The Shifter let out an involuntary gasped, clutching the wall in support "What… What are they to make you feel…?"

"It's called a Dalek," the Doctor explained "And it's alive."

Tallulah snorted "You're kidding me."

"Does it look like I'm kidding?" the Doctor snapped. Kaya took that as her clue to grab his hand, squeezing it gently "Inside that shell is a creature born to hate, whose only thought is to destroy everything and everyone that isn't a Dalek too. It won't stop until it's killed every human being alive."

"So they're from Skaro then?" Kaya asked "That would explain your reaction."

"But if it's not a human being," the showgirl asked carefully "That kind of implies it's from outer space. Yet again, that's a no with the kidding." She let out a shaky breath "Boy. Well, what's it doing here, in New York?"

The Doctor shook his head "Every second you're down here, you're in danger. I'm taking you back right now." A pigman rounded the corner, causing Tallulah to scream and jumping behind the two travellers. The Time Lord took a threatening step forward "Where's Martha? What have you done with her? What have you done with Martha?"

"I didn't take her," Laszlo gave back, stumbling away from the other man.

The Doctor paused "Can you remember your name?"

"Don't look at me," the pigman shot back, turning away from the small group.

Tallulah peaked around the Doctor "Do you know where she is?"

Laszlo startled at the showgirl's voice "Stay back. Don't look at me."

"What happened to you?" the Time Lord asked.

"They made me a monster," the pigman gave back quietly.

"Who did?"

Laszlo shrugged "The Masters."

The Doctor let out a hiss "The Daleks. Why?"

"They needed slaves," Laszlo explained "They needed slaves to steal more people so they created us. Part animal, part human. I escaped before they got my mind but it was still too late."

"Do you know what happened to Martha?" the Doctor asked.

Laszlo nodded quietly "They took her. It's my fault," he admitted "She was following me."

Tallulah gasped "Were you in the theatre?"

"I never," the man denied quickly before letting out a sigh "Yes."

"Why?" the showgirl frowned, carefully stepping closer to the shadow "Why were you there?"

The pigman sighed "I never wanted you to see me like this."

"Why me?" Tallulah puzzled "What I got to do with this? Were you following me? Is that why you were there?"

Laszlo turned around "Yes."

"Who are you?" Tallulah questioned, squinting at the features she could make out.

"I was lonely," the man admitted "I'm sorry."

Tallulah's breathing hitched "No, wait," she stopped him "Let me look at you. Laszlo? My Laszlo? Oh, what have they done to you?"

"I'm sorry," Laszlo choked "So sorry."

The Doctor who had watched the incident silently spoke up "Laszlo, can you show me where they are?"

"They'll kill you," the pigman pointed out.

The Time Lord shook his head "If I don't stop them, they'll kill everyone."

Laszlo looked at him for a moment before he nodded "Then follow me." He lead the three through the sewers, taking lefts and rights easily. The pigman held up his hand, peaking around the corner before turning around as the others took a quick look as well "They're divided into two groups. High intelligence and low intelligence. The low intelligence are taken to become pig slaves like me."

"Well, that's not fair," Tallulah exclaimed.

The Doctor rolled his eyes "Shush."

The showgirl quieted down "You're the smartest guy I ever dated."

"Wait," Kaya tilted her head "What about the others? The one with high intelligence? What do they do with them?"

Laszlo looked at the girl "They're taken to the laboratory."

"Why?" the Doctor frowned "What for?"

The pigman shrugged "I don't know. The Masters only call it Final Experiment.

By then, the Dalek had reached Frank and Martha "Superior intelligence." It turned to Martha "Intelligence scan, initiate. Superior intelligence. This one will become part of the Final Experiment."

"You can't just experiment on people," Martha cried out "It's insane. It's inhuman."

"We are not human," the Dalek pointed out "Prisoners of high intelligence will be taken to the transgenic laboratory."

The Doctor grabbed a hold of Kaya's arm, pulling her closer to his body "Look out, they're moving."

Laszlo started to lead Tallulah away "Doctor. Doctor, quickly."

"We're not coming. I have an idea… You two go," he murmured.

Tallulah tugged on her boyfriend's arm "Laszlo, come on."

Laszlo sighed "Can you remember the way?"

"Yeah," the blonde nodded "I think so."

"Then go," the pigman pushed her lightly "Please."

"But Laszlo, you got to come with me."

Laszlo smiled sadly "Where would I go? Tallulah, I'm begging you. Save yourself. Just run. Just go. Go." With a lingering glance, Tallulah left, leaving Laszlo, the Doctor and the Shifter to sneak into the line of humans who were being lead away.

"Just keep walking," the Doctor murmured to Martha when he reached her.

The other girl breathed a sigh of relief "Oh, I'm so glad to see you."

"Yeah, well," the Time Lord shrugged.

As soon as they reached the Dalek laboratory, the Dalek that lead the group, turned to another one "Report."

"Dalek Sec is in the final stage of evolution," the other Dalek pointed out, its eyestalk directed at the black casing of what appeared to be their leader.

"Scan him," one of them demanded "Prepare for birth."

The Doctor raised his eyebrow "Evolution?"

Martha nodded to the Black Dalek "What's wrong with old Charlie boy over there?"

"Ask them," the Doctor told her.

"What, me?" the medical student hissed, her eyes widening "Why not Kaya? Or you?"

The Time Lord leaned down "I don't exactly want to get noticed. Ask them what's going on." He turned to me "Keep your head down, alright?"

When it seemed like Martha wouldn't ask, Kaya stepped forward, her mind whirling. Behind her, the Doctor let out a strangled noise, trying to grab at her and pull her back. That wasn't what he wanted… He didn't want Kaya to put herself in trouble for him. The Shifter avoided his grabbing hands though and spoke up. "Can I just ask… What is the Final Experiment?"

"You will bear witness," one of the bronze Daleks told her.

"To what?"

"This is the dawn of a new age," the Dalek exclaimed.

Kaya raised her eyebrows "What does that mean?"

"We are the only four Daleks in existence, so the species must evolve a life outside the shell. The Children of Skaro must walk again," the same Dalek pointed out. By then Sec's shell had stopped smoking and the light in its eyestalk went out. The casing opened and a biped struggled out. As the casing was closing, the creature straightened up, its hands over his head.

Martha let out a gasp "What is it?"

The creature had one eye and tentacles like a Dalek blob but it was wearing a very familiar suit "I am a human Dalek," Sec gasped, breathing deeply "I am your future."


	7. Evolution of the Daleks

"The humans will become like me. Prepare them for hybridisation," Sec demanded.

Kaya flinched when her arms were grabbed by two pigmen. She had been watching the Doctor sneaking away until he was hiding behind some equipment.

Martha was grabbed as well "Leave me alone. Don't you dare."

All of a sudden music started playing from the side "What's that sound?" Sec demanded, looking around in confusion.

"Ah, well," the Doctor popped up from behind a desk "Now, that would be me." He placed the radio down by a Bunsen burner, strolling closer to Dalek Sec, keeping in front of Kaya instinctively. He really had to find out what that bond was. It was driving him nuts and the fact that the Tardis was on Kaya's side already was mildly infuriating. Not that he didn't enjoy the challenge of finding out but… Daleks. Maybe he should focus on them instead of his own problems "Hello. Surprise. Boo. Et cetera."

Dalek Sec narrowed his eyes on the man "Doctor," he greeted.

"How did you end up in 1930?" the Doctor questioned curiously.

"Emergency temporal shift," Dalek Sec replied with a shrug.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows in slight amusement "Oh, that must have roasted up your power cells, huh?" He shook his head in mock disappointment "Time was, four Daleks could have conquered the world but instead, you're sulking away, hidden in the dark, experimenting. All of which results in you."

Sec's eyes blazed "I am a Dalek in human form."

"What does it feel like?" the Doctor demanded "You can talk to me, Dalek Sec. It is Dalek Sec, isn't it? That's your name? You've got a name and a mind of your own. Tell me what you're thinking right now."

Sec was quiet for a moment "I feel… humanity."

"Good," the Doctor nodded "That's good."

"I feel everything we wanted from mankind," the Dalek continued "Which is ambition, hatred, aggression and war. Such a genius for war."

The Doctor froze, shaking his head "No, that's not what humanity means."

"I think it does," Sec disagreed "At heart, this species is so very Dalek."

"Alright," the Doctor sighed, knowing there was no arguing with him right now "So what have you achieved then, with this Final Experiment, eh? Nothing. Because I can show you what you're missing with this thing." He held up the radio "A simple little radio."

"What is the purpose of that device?" one of the other Daleks demanded.

The Doctor rolled his eyes "Well, exactly. It plays music. What's the point of that? Oh, with music, you can dance to it, sing with it, fall in love to it." He paused for a moment "Unless you're a Dalek of course. Then it's all just noise." The Doctor aimed his sonic screwdriver at the little radio, causing it to emit a shriek that not only hurt Dalek Sec and the pigmen but Kaya as well "Run." The prisoners escaped with the Doctor following. He was pulling Kaya along as she stumbled more than ran.

"Protect the Hybrid," the Daleks chorused, forming a circle around Sec "Protect. Protect. Protect."

"Come on," the Doctor called out over the hurried footsteps "Move, move, move, move." He lead the group to where Tallulah was standing, looking lost "And you, Tallulah. Run!"

Tallulah looked at all of them "What's happened to Laszlo?" Martha sighed, dragging Tallulah along as the Doctor lead all the others to the ladder.

"Come on," he muttered, his eyes darting around the corridors, making sure that none of the Daleks or pigmen were coming "Everyone up. Come on."

Back in Hooverville, the Doctor, Martha and Kaya joined Solomon in front of his tent "These Daleks," Solomon spoke up, pacing "They sound like the stuff of nightmares. And they want to breed?"

The Doctor nodded, running a hand through his hair "They're splicing themselves onto human bodies and if I'm right, they've got a farm of breeding stock right here in Hooverville. You've got to get everyone out."

Solomon scoffed "Hooverville's the lowest place a man can fall. There's nowhere else to go."

"I'm sorry, Solomon," the Doctor sighed, his hands resting on Kaya's shoulders "You've got to scatter. Go anywhere. Down to the railroads, travel across state. Just get out of New York."

"There's got to be a way to reason with these things," Solomon murmured.

Kaya grimaced "Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea, Solomon. They don't seem to be very… reasonable beings."

"You ain't seen them, boss," Frank nodded.

"Daleks are bad enough at any time but right now they're vulnerable," the Doctor explained "That makes them more dangerous than ever."

Outside, one of the lookouts heard a grunt, seeing a pigman looking out from behind a tree "They're coming," he shouted "They're coming."

Solomon's head snapped up "A sentry. He must have seen something."

"They're here," the sentry cried, running through the camp "I've seen them. Monsters. They're monsters."

"It's started," the Doctor breathed, his hands tightening on Kaya's shoulders.

Solomon hurried over to the stack of weapons "We're under attack," he shouted "Everyone to arms." Rifles were handed out and everyone got into position.

"I'm ready, boss, but all of you…" Frank looked around at some of the people who were standing around unsurely "Find a weapon. Use anything."

"Come back," Solomon shouted when a few men ran off "We've got to stick together. It's not safe out there. Come back."

That was when the pigmen started attacking for real, grabbing everyone they could get their hands on "We need to get out of the park," Martha exclaimed.

"We can't," the Doctor muttered grimly "They're on all side. They're driving people back towards us."

Tallulah exhaled shakily "We're trapped."

"Then we stand together," Solomon pointed out in determination "Gather around. Everyone come to me. You there, Jethro, Harry, Seamus, stay together." The armed men formed a circle around the women by the campfire "They can't take all of us."

"If we can just hold them off till daylight," Martha shook her head and cringed as the shooting started.

The Doctor swallowed, knowing what was about to come. He had really hoped that none of them would have had to be involved in this. Not Kaya, not Martha, not anyone of them. The Daleks were his fight. His eternal fight. The enemy he couldn't get rid of. Ever "Oh, they're just the foot soldiers."

"Oh, my God," Martha gasped as one of the Daleks came flying towards them.

Solomon blinked "What in this world is…?"

"It's the devil," the sentry from before cried out "A devil in the sky. God save us all. It's damnation."

"Oh yeah?" Frank pressed out through gritted teeth "We'll see about that." He started shooting at the Dalek, not even caring when the bullets bounced off with a useless clang.

The Doctor grabbed his arm "That's not going to work," he whispered.

"There's more of them," Martha pointed out as a second Dalek swooped in. Both of them started firing, blowing up the tents with the people hiding in there.

"The humans will surrender," one of the Daleks ordered.

"Leave them alone," the Doctor called out, stepping forward. Kaya stiffened when the Daleks both turned on him, gritting her teeth against the urge to shift. "They've done nothing to you." Just then, Solomon stepped forward, causing the Doctor's head to snap over to him "No, Solomon. Stay back."

Solomon swallowed "I'm told that I'm addressing the Daleks. Is that right?" He licked his lips "From what I hear, you're outcasts too."

"Solomon, don't."

"Doctor," Solomon sighed "This is my township. You will respect my authority. Just let me try." He turned back to the Daleks "Daleks, ain't we all the same? Underneath, ain't we all kin?" Solomon put down his rifle "Right. See. I've just discovered this past day, God's universe is a thousand times the size I thought it was. And that scares me. Oh yeah, terrifies me right down to the bone. But surely it's got to give me hope. Hope that maybe together we can make a better tomorrow. So, I beg you know, if you have any compassion in your hearts, then you'll meet with us and stop this fight. Well?" He stared at them "What do you say?"

The Dalek mustered the man for a short moment before its whisk twitched "Exterminate."

As they watched the green beam hit, Kaya swallowed. One beam and he was dead. She couldn't allow her Imprint to be in danger. No matter how much he could take care of himself, she just couldn't stand by and watch. Kaya's limbs started shaking and she glared at the Dalek from the back where she was standing. The Doctor had hustled her back towards the main group when the pigmen had started attacking.

"No! Solomon," Frank cried out, falling to his knees next to his dead mentor.

Martha stared at the body on the ground in shock "They killed him. They just shot him on the spot."

"Daleks," the Doctor shouted "Alright, so it's my turn, then. Kill me. Kill me if it'll stop you attacking these people."

Kaya took a deep breath and took off running towards the Doctor when he stepped further towards the Dalek "Stay back," she growled, doing a jumping leap over Martha just as she shifted into her wolf form.

The Doctor whirled around, turning just in time to see Kaya turn into a giant white wolf. She growled, shaking out her fur. It felt good to be a wolf again. She felt freer and stronger "What?" the Doctor breathed, his eyes wide "What? How the…" He reached out his hand when Kaya stopped next to him. Her head reached just below his shoulder which wasn't a small feet. Especially since she was so tiny when she was human. Well, tiny to him. The Doctor's fingers glided through the soft white fur. It snapped him out of his shock "You're a wolf? That's brilliant. You're brilliant."

Kaya chuffed, turning her head to lick at the Doctor's chin before continuing to growl at the Daleks. She situated herself in front of her Imprint, keeping herself between him and the Daleks.

"What happened?" Martha exclaimed.

The Doctor shrugged "It appears as if Kaya can turn into a huge wolf. Beautiful, isn't she?"

"Beautiful isn't what I would call that," Martha muttered under her breath. Of course, Kaya would be a freak. She should have seen it earlier. What she didn't understand is how the Doctor could just treat her like it's normal. Kaya was human. Humans didn't turn into wolves.

The Doctor shot Martha a look. Maybe he really did have to think over her staying on board. Why Kaya wanted her along for one more time, he didn't understand. Not with the way Martha was treating the younger girl. Speak of… "Kaya, get back."

Kaya just growled at him, nipping at the hands that were trying to pull her back. Her head nudged his chest, almost causing him to fall as Kaya shook her head, getting into a more defensive position.

"I will be the destroyer of our greatest enemy," the Dalek exclaimed, his weapon pointed at the white wolf. He would go through it, no matter what. The Doctor had to be destroyed. The enemy of the Daleks has lived long enough.

" _Stop. I command you. Stop,_ " Dalek Sec demanded, speaking to the two Daleks that were ready to kill the Doctor.

"I do not understand," the Dalek gave back "It is the Doctor."

Sec sighed " _But I want him alive._ "

"The urge to kill is too strong," the Dalek groaned, his whisk firing into the distance.

" _I have decided. The Doctor must live and you will obey me._ "

The Dalek was quiet for a moment before his whisk lowered "I obey."

The Doctor frowned, stepping up next to Kaya "What's going on?"

" _Bring him to me._ "

"You will follow," the Daleks demanded.

Martha grabbed the Doctor's sleeve, ignoring Kaya's growl. She was uncomfortable with the idea of a wolf being around the Doctor. Hell, she didn't even know whether or not that thing was dangerous. How the Doctor could trust it… her, she didn't know "No! You can't go," she hissed.

The Doctor shook off her hand, leaning his back against Kaya. It felt comforting to know that she was there "I've got to go," he insisted, patting the wolf's flank when she latched onto his coat "The Daleks just changed their minds. Daleks never change their minds."

"But what about us?"

"One condition," the Doctor shouted to the Daleks "If I come with you, you spare the lives of everyone here. Do you hear me?"

" _Obey the Doctor._ "

The Dalek seemed to huff begrudgingly "Humans will be spared. Doctor, follow."

Kaya cursed her lack of voice in her wolf form but she was too riled up to change back, so she whirled to the side, knocking the Doctor to the ground. She planted one of her paws on his chest and bared her teeth at him warningly. She wouldn't let him do this.

"Doctor, is she dangerous? What is she doing?" Martha demanded.

"No, it's fine. She's fine. Kaya, stop it," the Doctor said, looking up into her eyes pleadingly "I have to check it out. Please. I don't know why we're bonded but I can feel it, feel what you're feeling. I know that you want to keep me safe. But I don't want to lose you."

Kaya huffed, pressing down on his chest a bit more.

The Doctor sighed "What if you come with me? Is that alright?" The wolf stared at him for a moment before getting off his chest "Thank you."

"I'm coming with you too," Martha cried out.

"Martha," the Doctor started "Stay here. Do what you do best. People are hurt. You can help them. Let me go. Oh, and can I just say… Thank you very much." He grabbed her hand to put the psychic paper in, trusting her one more time before leaving with the Daleks and Kaya.

Kaya pressed against the Doctor's side, not leaving his side once. The Daleks lead the two of them to a sewer entrance that was big enough for them and even Kaya to fit through.

"Those people were defenceless," the Doctor shouted once they entered the laboratory again "You only wanted me but no, that wasn't enough for you. You had to start killing because that's the only thing a Dalek's good for."

"The deaths were wrong," Dalek Sec admitted.

The Doctor blinked "I'm sorry?"

"That man," Sec pointed out "Their leader. Solomon. He showed courage."

"And… that's good?" the Doctor asked, fishing for information.

Sec nodded reverently "That's excellent."

"Is it me or are you just becoming a little bit more human?" the Doctor mused and turned to look at Kaya "Isn't he a bit more human? Why are you still a wolf, by the way?"

Kaya threw her head up, tugging at the Doctor's clothes. Hers were very much shredded when she shifted and there was no way she wanted to end up naked in front of a group of Daleks. It was weird enough in front of her fellow Shifters. She learned not to be shy. After all, she didn't really care anymore who saw her naked. Bit of a side effect of shifting into a huge wolf and back. It was harder for her than for the boys. They only needed shorts. She… Well, she managed.

"Ah." The Doctor grimaced a little when he understood what she was trying to tell him, a small blush dusting his cheeks at the thought alone.

"You are the last of your kind," Dalek Sec explained "And now I am the first of mine."

The Doctor turned back to look at the Daleks "What do you want me for?"

"We tried everything to survive when we found ourselves stranded in this ignorant age. First, we tried growing new Dalek embryos but their flesh was too weak," Sec murmured.

"Yeah," the Doctor scoffed "I found one of your experiments. Just left to die out there in the dark."

Sec shrugged "It forced us to conclude what is the greatest resource of this planet. It's people." He threw a breaker switch and lit up the whole place. Floating above them were hundred of covered bodies on stretchers "We stole them. We stole human beings for our purpose. Look inside." The Doctor uncovered a man's face "This is the true extent of the Final Experiment."

The Doctor swallowed "Is he dead?"

"Near death," Sec corrected "With his mind wiped, ready to be filled with new ideas."

"Dalek ideas," the Doctor nodded in understanding. His hand came up to Kaya's head, stroking it almost absentmindedly.

Sec hummed, looking at the man intently "The Human Dalek race."

"All of these people," the Doctor whispered "How many?"

"We have cavern beyond this storing more than a thousand."

The Doctor closed his eyes "Is there any way to restore them? Make them human again?"

"Everything they were has been lost," Sec told him.

"So they're like shells," the Doctor said dully "You've got empty human beings ready to be converted. That's going to take a hell of a lot of power. This planet hasn't even split the atom yet. How're you going to do it?"

Sec turned around "Open the conductor plan."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the Doctor rolled his eyes "The Empire State Building. We're right underneath that. I worked that out already, thanks. But what, you've hijacked the whole building?"

"We needed an energy conductor."

The Doctor frowned "What for?"

"I am the genetic template," Sec pointed out "My altered DNA was to be administered to each human body. A strong enough blast of gamma radiation can splice the Dalek and human genetic codes and waken each body from its sleep."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes in confusion "Gamma radiation? What are you… Oh, the sun. You're using the sun."

"Soon the greatest solar flare for a thousand years will hit the Earth. Gamma radiation will be drawn to the energy conductor and when it strikes…"

"The army wakes," the Doctor finished "I still don't know what you need me for."

Sec looked at the other man "Your genius. Consider a pure Dalek, intelligent but emotionless."

"Removing the emotions makes you stronger," the Doctor muttered "That's what your creator thought, all those years ago."

"He was wrong," Sec said, causing the other Daleks to turn their eyestalks to their leader before looking at each other.

The Doctor was about to open his mouth when the words registered "He was what?"

"He made us lesser than our enemies," Sec exclaimed "We must return to the flesh and also the heart."

"But you wouldn't be supreme being anymore."

"And that's good."

The Dalek behind them jerked around "That is incorrect."

"Daleks are supreme," the third Dalek cried out.

Kaya looked from one Dalek to the others in confusion. She got what the Daleks were planning to do but what was that about emotions? The only thing she had a problem with was the Daleks in general. She didn't understand them. Sec seemed very different from the others. Had he always been like that? Judging by the Doctor's and the other Dalek's reaction that was a relatively new development.

Sec shook his head, smoothing down the tattered suit "No, not anymore."

"But that is our purpose," the third Dalek shot back.

"Then our purpose is wrong," Sec shrugged "Where has our quest for supremacy led us? To this." He gestured around "Hiding in the sewers on a primitive world, just four of us left. If we do not change now then we deserve extinction."

"So…" the Doctor drawled, drawing the attention back to himself "You want to change everything that makes a Dalek a Dalek."

"If you can help me," Dalek Sec agreed "Your knowledge of genetic engineering is even greater than ours. The new race must be ready by the time the solar flare erupts."

"But you're the template. I thought they were getting a dose of you," the Doctor pointed out in confusion.

"I want to change the gene sequence," Sec explained.

The Doctor's eyes widened "To make them even more human?"

Dalek Sec nodded "Humans are the great survivors. We need that ability."

"Hold on a minute." The Doctor whirled around to face the other Daleks, startling Kaya into growling "Oh, shush you. I'm fine." He studied the Daleks "There's no way this lot are going to let you do it."

"I'm their leader," Sec told him.

The Doctor snorted "Oh, and that's enough for you, is it?"

"Daleks must follow orders," one of the Daleks exclaimed.

The other followed, sounding a little more forced "Dalek Sec commands, we obey."

Kaya noted that the third Dalek didn't say anything but there was nothing she could do about it. She didn't want to get killed or get the Doctor killed, so she would just watch and protect the Doctor for now.

"If you don't help me, nothing will change," Dalek Sec shrugged.

The Doctor bit his lip thoughtfully "There's no room on Earth for another race of people."

Sec rolled his eyes "You have your Tardis. Take us across the stars. Find us a new home and allow the new Daleks to start again."

"When's that solar flare?" the Doctor asked, sighing in defeat.

"Eleven minutes."

"Right then," the Doctor clapped "Better get to work."

Kaya bared her teeth as one of the Daleks got to close to her as the Doctor and Dalek Sec were rushing around the laboratory. Well, no… The Doctor was rushing around maniacally, while the Human Dalek was working on something off the side.

All of a sudden, the Doctor shook his head "There's no point in chromosomal grafting, it's too erratic. You need to split the genome and force the Dalek Human sequence right into the cortex."

"We need more chromatin solution," Dalek Sec called out.

"The pig slaves have it," the Dalek who had tried to get to Kaya answered.

The Doctor looked up to see the pigmen carrying in a large crate, Laszlo with them "These pig slaves," he started "What happens to them in the grand plan?"

"Nothing," Sec shook his head "They're just simple beasts. Their lifespan is limited. None survive beyond a few weeks. Power up the line feeds."

The Doctor leaned to Laszlo when the Daleks were distracted "Laszlo, I can't undo what they've gone to you but they won't do it to anyone else."

"Do you trust him?" Laszlo whispered back.

"I know that one man can change the course of history," the Doctor murmured "Right idea in the right place at the right time, it's all it takes. I've got to believe it's possible." He turned to Kaya "Get ready. Whatever just happens, we might have to retreat. I don't want you to get hurt."

Kaya nodded and went to stay next to Laszlo who automatically started patting her head, leaning against her side to steady himself as his breathing got worse "You're really the girl from before?" he questioned "That's amazing. Are you an alien too?"

"The line feeds are ready," one of the Daleks called out.

The Doctor hummed "Then it's all systems go."

Sec turned to look at the equipment "The solar flare is imminent. The radiation will reach Earth in a matter of minutes."

"We'll be ready for it," the Doctor assured, filling a large syringe with blue liquid to put into a brass still "That compound will allow the gene bonds to reconfigure in a brand new pattern. Power up!"

Two of the pigmen threw one set of breakers up "Start the line feeds," Dalek Sec called out.

They all watched the liquid go up plastic tubes to all the bodies hanging above them "There goes the gene solution," the Doctor whispered.

"The lifeblood," Sec added.

A klaxon sound echoed through the laboratory, causing Kaya to whine and Laszlo to rub her head soothingly. The Doctor started panicking "What's that?"

"What's happening?" Sec asked "Is there a malfunction? Answer me."

"No, no, no," the Doctor rambled, running around the equipment "The gene feed. They're overriding the gene feed."

Sec's eyes widened "Impossible. They cannot disobey orders."

One of the Daleks turned its weapon on the Doctor "The Doctor will step away from the controls."

"Stop," Sec commanded "You will not fire."

"He is an enemy of the Daleks," another huffed.

"And so are you," the first Dalek replied, turning on Dalek Sec.

Sec shook his head, taking a couple of steps back "I am your commander. I am Dalek Sec."

"You have lost your authority," the first Dalek told him.

The Doctor swallowed, stepping back to stand with Laszlo and Kaya "What have you done with the gene feed?"

"The new bodies will be one hundred percent Dalek," one of the Daleks explained.

Sec gasped "No. You can't do this."

The Dalek at the back turned to the salves "Pig slaves, restrain Dalek Sec and the Doctor and the wolf." Laszlo was the one to grab the Doctor but all of the pig slaves backed off once they caught sight of Kaya's very large teeth. The fact that she had gotten into fighting position didn't really help their job either. When pitting pig-Humans against a horse-sized wolf, the wolf would definitely win.

The phrasing the Dalek used made the Doctor gasped quietly. So that was what the Face of Boe had meant… He had been talking about Kaya, not Rose. It made a lot more sense actually.

"Release me," Sec demanded "I created you. I am your master."

Another alarm sounded, causing the three Daleks to turn away, so they didn't notice the elevator coming down "Solar flare approaching."

"Prepare to intercept," the third Dalek ordered.

"There's the lift," Laszlo breathed, tightening his grip on Kaya's fur. He was starting to feel worse and the fact that the wolf was taking a lot of his weight, helped a lot.

The Doctor gestured behind him "After you." He and Laszlo – with Kaya's assistance help – ran, the Doctor using the sonic screwdriver to get the elevator doors open.

"The Doctor is escaping," one of the Daleks shouted "Stop him! Stop him." The doors slammed shut in the pigmen's faces.

"We've only got minutes before the gamma radiation reaches the Earth," the Doctor muttered, pacing up and down the small elevator. He frowned in confusion when he realised that it was bigger than it should be with Kaya in there as a wolf "We need to get to the top of the building." When he turned around, the first thing he noticed was Laszlo leaning against the side of the elevator, completely out of breath "Laszlo, what's wrong?"

"Out of breath," he waved off "It's nothing. We've escaped them, Doctor. That's all that matters."

The Doctor watched him for a moment before turning to Kaya to ask her to change back when he saw her standing next to Laszlo whose eyes immediately went to the floor after he noticed as the Doctor blushed a bright red "I… You… And…"

Kaya looked down at herself and sighed "Yes. I know."

"Does that happen every time you change?" Laszlo questioned, still mustering his feet.

"Yes," she nodded and shivered as the wind blew past. She wasn't necessarily cold but a little uncomfortable. Standing naked in front of her pack was different than standing naked in front of her Imprint.

The Doctor took a deep breath, trying to get himself together and shrugged out of his coat, throwing it over Kaya "Here."

Kaya smiled "Thanks."

Just as they finished the exchange and Kaya had pulled the coat closer around her, tying it shut, the doors of the elevator opened to reveal Martha, Frank and Tallulah "Doctor," Martha exclaimed in relief.

"First floor, perfumery," the Doctor joked.

Tallulah ran to Laszlo when she saw him more or less unharmed and threw her arms around his neck "I never thought I'd see you again."

"No stopping me," Laszlo smiled a little painfully, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend.

"We've worked it out," Martha explained, dragging the Doctor over to the blueprints "We know what they've done. Look, here." She traced the lines on the mast "There's Dalekanium on the mast." Her gaze turned to him "And it's good to see you, by the way."

The Doctor rolled his eyes "Oh, come here." He brought Martha into a short hug and pulled back as the elevator closed "No, no, no," he groaned "See, never waste time with a hug. Deadlock seal. I can't stop it."

"Where's it going?" Martha asked, throwing Kaya a look. She hadn't missed that the other girl was wearing the Doctor's coat or that she was Human again.

"Right down to the Daleks," the Doctor grumbled, tugging at his hair "And they're not going to leave us alone up here. What's the time?"

Frank looked down at his watch "Er… Eleven fifteen."

"Six minutes to go," the Doctor nodded "I've got to remove the Dalekanium before the gamma radiation hits."

"Gammon radiation?" Tallulah blinked in confusion "What the heck is that?"

Kaya shuffled forward, her feet making small sounds on the cement floor "Lightning," she told her "He means when the lightning from the storm hits."

"Oh, that's high," the Doctor grimaced, looking down "That's very… Blimey, that's high."

"And we've got to go even higher," Martha pointed out "That's the mast up there, look. There are three pieces of Dalekanium on the base. We've got to get them off."

The Doctor and Martha looked up the wooden ladder leading to the base of the mast "That's not we, that's just me."

Kaya shook her head "You're not going alone."

"The five of you are going to have your hands full anyway," the Doctor murmured, looking at Kaya. He still couldn't believe that she could turn into a huge wolf. Well, no. He could believe it but he still thought it was magnificent. Especially considering the control she had over herself. It was like the mental presence had gotten stronger while she had been a wolf. He frowned. Maybe that was the solution to the puzzle? He would have to ask her later, although something told him that he was still missing something "I'm sorry. You've got to fight."

As the Doctor turned to climb up the ladder, the group that was staying, turned to the elevator doors "The lift's coming up," Martha whispered.

"I should have brought that gun," Frank cursed.

Laszlo pulled the girls behind him "Tallulah, stay back. You too, Martha, Kaya. If they send pig slaves, they're trained to kill."

"The Doctor needs me to fight," Martha hissed "I'm not going anywhere."

Kaya sighed "Martha, he's right. We can't take them on like this."

"Then why don't you just go back to being a wolf?" she asked snidely "I mean, you could take them on."

"I don't kill," Kaya murmured "Not if I can avoid it."

"Oh, so you're basically useless then," Martha nodded "Good to know."

Laszlo went to lift the hammer he had grabbed but fell "Laszlo?" Tallulah cried, falling to her knees next to him "What is it?"

"No," he shook her off, trying to get up but fell again "It's nothing. I'm fine. Just leave me."

"Oh, honey, you're burning up," Tallulah murmured worriedly "What's wrong with you? Tell me."

Frank sighed as he watched their byplay "Great. One man down, we ain't even started yet."

"It's not looking good, Frank," Martha mumbled.

Kaya was looking at the metal scaffolding she had just bumped again "I think I have an idea," she spoke up.

At that moment there was thunder and lightning over the city "Wait a minute," Martha blinked "Are you thinking the same thing I am?"

"Lightning," they chorused as Kaya bent down to pick up a piece of the metal scaffolding.

Frank, Martha and Kaya started working on pulling the scaffolding down, using chairs to trail them in from outside. Tallulah was still sitting next to Laszlo, whispering to him when she looked up in irritation "What the hell are you clown doing?"

"Lightning," Kaya explained without really explaining "This place is getting zapped regardless of whether the Doctor stops the Dalekanium or not. Electricity travels through metal, that's why you sometimes get zapped when there's a storm coming and you touch something metal outside. If we connect this." She held up the piece she was holding "to the lift and the outside structure, the pigmen should get zapped."

Tallulah's eyes widened "Oh, my God. That could work."

"Then give us a hand," Frank grunted under the weight of the metal.

Martha and Tallulah finished setting up the line of metal inside, while Kaya and Frank managed the outside "So, what are you?" Frank asked curiously, looking over at the girl.

Kaya smiled wryly "Human. But that's not what you're asking." She sighed "I'm a Shapeshifter. I don't really know how it's possible but there were stories passed down through generations. We had a whole pack back where I'm from. Well, I say pack but there were four of us so far. But more shifting every few weeks."

"What sort of stories?" Frank questioned.

Before Kaya could say anything else, Martha called to Frank from the inside "Come here, Frank. Just sit in the middle and don't touch anything metal."

Frank looked at Kaya and the finished contraption "Yeah," he nodded, walking over with Kaya.

The group watched as the elevator reached floor 90 and then slowly crept higher and higher until a ding filled the air. It was almost swallowed out by the crack the lightning made. Electricity flowed down the conductor, along the scaffolding poles and straight into the pigmen in the elevator. Kaya grimaced at the pain that flowed through the bond she had with the Doctor and was ready to storm up to the mast when it just stopped.

When it was over, Tallulah let out a shaky breath "We did it."

"They used to be like Laszlo," Martha stared at them as Kaya walked over to the figures on the ground "They were people and I killed them."

Laszlo shook his head "No, the Daleks killed them. Long ago."

"What about the Doctor?" Martha asked, running to the mast, climbing up hurriedly.

Kaya followed her, the Doctor still absent from the bond. She spotted the screwdriver halfway up to the mast and reached over before Martha even saw it.

"Doctor," Martha gasped, seeing him lying close to the edge, unconscious. She snatched the screwdriver "Look what we found halfway down. You're getting careless."

Kaya placed her hand on the Doctor's chest as he gasped awake. He raised his hand to his head and groaned "Oh, my head."

"You okay?" Kaya asked, adjusting the coat when she noticed the knot getting loose.

"I'm okay," he murmured back "You survived, then."

Martha looked at them before her eyes trailed to the mast. She cleared her throat "I can't help noticing… There's Dalekanium still attached."

The Doctor startled into action, climbing down the ladder quickly. As soon as he reached the area where the others were waiting, he started pacing "The Daleks will have gone straight to a war footing. They'll be using the sewers, spreading the soldiers out underneath Manhattan."

"How do we stop them?" Laszlo asked, getting up slowly. Kaya walked over to him and helped Tallulah to steady him.

The Doctor ran a hand through his dripping hair "There's only one chance. I got in the way. That gamma strike went zapping through me first."

Martha frowned "Yeah, but what does that mean?"

"We need to draw fire. Before they can attack New York, I need to face them." The Doctor sighed when Kaya growled. There was no other choice. He didn't like it either but it had to be done. He had to stop the Daleks from killing the whole world whether Kaya liked it or not "Where can I draw them out? Think, think, think, think, think. We need some sort of space. Somewhere safe. Somewhere out of the way. Tallulah!"

Tallulah looked up with wide eyes "That's me. Three Ls and an H."

"The theatre," the Doctor exclaimed "It's right above them and – what – it's gone midnight? Can you get us inside?"

"Don't see why not," Tallulah shrugged.

"Is there another lift?" the Doctor asked, looking at the one with all the pig slaves inside and out.

Martha pointed to the side "We came up in the service elevator."

"That'll do," the Doctor nodded "Allons-y."

The journey to the theatre passed in silence. Kaya was helping Laszlo as he started stumbling more and more. Tallulah opened the door to the theatre with a key that she had gotten from somewhere. It was pretty cold inside which immediately caused the Tallulah to shiver.

The Doctor stopped in the middle of the theatre "This should do it. Here we go."

"There ain't nothing more creepy than a theatre in the dark," Tallulah muttered "Listen, Doctor, I know you got a thing for show tunes but there's a time and place, huh?" Her attention was drawn from the Doctor to her boyfriend when Laszlo fell into one of the seats heavily "Laszlo, what's wrong?"

He shook his head "Nothing. It's just so hot."

"But it's freezing in here," Tallulah whispered in concern "Doctor, what's happening to him?"

"Not now, Tallulah," the Doctor waved off "Sorry."

Martha raised her eyebrow at the Doctor who had climbed onto a row of seats "What are you doing?"

"If the Daleks are going to war, they'll want to find their number one enemy," the Doctor pointed out matter-of-factly "I'm just telling them where I am." He held up his screwdriver as it continued beeping "You guys need to leave. Now!"

Martha shook her head "No."

Kaya started trembling again but reigned it in. If she wanted this to work, she had to trust the Doctor. He did trust him but seeing him in danger was harder than she thought. It made her understand why Sam hated having anyone shifted around Emily. Especially after what happened between them.

The Doctor turned towards them with a sigh "I'm telling you to go. Frank can take you all back to Hooverville."

"And I'm telling you I'm not going," Martha crossed her arms.

"Doctor, you can't do everything alone," Kaya murmured.

The Doctor tensed "That's an order."

Martha scoffed "Who are you, then? Some sort of Dalek?"

Kaya was about to snap at her when the doors exploded inwards and people marched in from both sides, surrounding them. Tallulah let out a squeak, hiding behind Kaya "Doctor. Oh, my God. Well, I guess that's them then, huh?"

"Humans with Dalek DNA?" Martha murmured.

The Doctor held out his arms, hands up "It's alright, it's alright. Just stay calm. Don't antagonize them."

"But what of the Dalek Masters?" Laszlo spoke up slowly, watching the Dalek Humans warily "Where are they?"

As if they head him, there was an explosion on stage and two of the three remaining Daleks appeared with Dalek Sec on a chain, crawling on his hands and knees between them "The Doctor will stand before the Daleks," the left Dalek ordered, its eyestalk looking from person to person. The Doctor walked over the top of the seats easily, his hands clenched "You will die, Doctor. It is the beginning of a new age."

The Dalek on the right moved forward "Planet Earth will become New Skaro."

"Oh, and what a world," the Doctor spat "With anything just the slightest bit different ground into the dirt." He nodded to Sec on the ground "That's Dalek Sec. Don't you remember? The cleverest Dalek ever and look what you've done to him. Is that your new Empire, hmm? Is that the foundation for a whole new civilization?"

Tallulah grabbed Kaya's hand when she saw that the other girl started trembling and clenching her eyes close, trying desperately to not shred the Doctor's coat "Are you okay?" she whispered to Kaya.

"Yeah," Kaya breathed, squeezing Tallulah's hand in thanks.

"My Daleks," Sec rasped "Just understand this. If you choose death and destruction, then death and destruction will choose you."

The left Dalek turned "Incorrect. We will always survive."

"Now we will destroy our greatest enemy, the Doctor," the other Dalek announced.

"But he can help you," Sec insisted.

The left Dalek's whisk twitched "The Doctor must die."

"No," Sec gasped "I beg you, don't."

"Exterminate." Kaya jerked in fear, almost lurching forward if it hadn't been for both Tallulah and Laszlo holding her back. She hadn't needed to worry though because Sec stood up just as the Dalek fired.

"Your own leader," the Doctor grimaced in disgust, glancing over his shoulder at Kaya. When he saw Tallulah and Laszlo talking to her, he smiled lightly, sending her as much comfort as he could muster at the moment. The effect was instant as she relaxed more "The only creature who might have led you out of the darkness and you destroyed him. Do you see what they did?" He turned to the Dalek Humans "Huh? You see what a Dalek really is? If I'm going to die, let's give the new boys a shot. What do you think, eh? The Dalek Humans. Their first blood. Go on, baptise them."

The left Dalek spoke up "Dalek Humans. Take aim." They turned their guns on the Doctor.

He clenched his jaw "What are you waiting for?" he goaded "Give the command."

"Exterminate." Everyone tensed, waiting for something to happen but nothing did "Exterminate."

The left Dalek moved forward "Obey. Dalek Humans will obey."

Martha glanced at them "They're not firing. What have you done?"

"You will obey," the Dalek cried out "Exterminate."

"Why?" the first Dalek Human questioned.

The right Dalek reared back "Daleks do not question orders."

"But why?"

"You will stop this."

The Dalek Human tilted his head "But… why?"

"You must not question…"

"But you are not our Master," the man pointed out "And we – we are not Daleks."

The Doctor relaxed with a smile stealing its way across his face "No, you're not. And you'll never be." He smirked at the Daleks on the stage "Sorry, I got in the way of the lightning strike. Time Lord DNA got all mixed up. Just that little bit of freedom."

"If they will not obey, then they must die," the Dalek on the left huffed. He shot the man who had started questioning their orders.

"Get down," the Doctor called out.

The Dalek Humans turned on the two Daleks on stage, firing at them as the Daleks fired at the Humans "Exterminate. Exterminate. Extermin…" One after the other the Daleks exploded and the Dalek Humans stopped shooting.

"It's alright," the Doctor soothed, looking at the still people "It's alright. You did it. You're free." All of a sudden, the mutants started clutching at their hands, dropping to the ground, dead "No. They can't. They can't. They can't."

"What happened?" Martha demanded "What was that?"

The Doctor straightened up, his face set "They killed them, rather than let them live. An entire species. Genocide."

Laszlo straightened with a low groan "Only two of the Daleks have been destroyed. One of the Dalek Masters must still be alive."

"Oh, yes," the Doctor smirked darkly "In the whole universe, just one." He turned to look at Kaya, seeing her staring at him quietly. His smirk dropped as he stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her for a moment "I'm sorry," he breathed "Do you want to come?"

Kaya leaned her head against his chest for a moment before nodding "Yeah."

They took the way through the props room down to the sewers, making it to the Dalek laboratory in barely anytime. The others stayed back, while the Doctor walked closer to the Dalek strapped into the cables "Now what?" the Doctor demanded.

"You will be exterminated," the Dalek said.

The Doctor snorted, waving him off "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just think about it, Dalek… What was your name?"

"Dalek Caan."

"Dalek Caan," the Doctor repeated "Your entire species has been wiped out. And now the Cult of Skaro has been eradicated, leaving only you. Right now you're facing the only man in the universe who might show you some compassion. Because I've just seen one genocide. I won't cause another. Caan, let me help you. What do you say?"

The Dalek was silent for a moment "Emergency temporal shift," it cried out, disappearing.

"Doctor," Martha cried out as Laszlo collapsed "Doctor. He's sick." Kaya helped Laszlo to stop him from hitting the ground harder than he would have "It's okay. You're alright. It's his heart. It's racing like mad. I've never seen anything like it."

"What is it, Doctor?" Tallulah asked, her voice shaking "What's the matter with him? He says he can't breathe? What is it?"

Laszlo shivered, leaning his head against Tallulah's shoulder "It's time, sweetheart."

"What do you mean, time?" she frowned "What are you talking about?"

"None of the slaves survive for long," Laszlo explained "Most of them only live for a few weeks. I was lucky. I held on because I had you. But now… I'm dying, Tallulah."

Tallulah cried out "No, you're not. Not now, after all this. Doctor, can't you do something?"

"Oh, Tallulah with three Ls and an H, just you watch me," the Doctor exclaimed, hurrying over "What do I need? Oh, I don't know. How about a great big genetic laboratory? Oh look, I've got one. Laszlo, just you hold on. There's been too many deaths today." He started working with coloured liquids before turning to Kaya "I need your help over here."

Kaya ran a hand through Laszlo's hair before getting up to walk over to the Doctor "I don't know a lot about Biology though."

"No worries," the Doctor waved off "Come here." He showed her what to do and how to mix the liquids and explained what Kaya needed to know. While she was doing that, the Doctor's mind practically ran through scenarios, trying to find a way to reverse what the Daleks did to Laszlo "Way too many people have died. Brand new creatures and wise old men and age-old enemies. And I'm telling you, I'm telling you right now, I'm not having one more death. You got that?" He let out a happy 'Aha' when an idea sparked in his head. That could work "Tallulah, out of the way. The Doctor is in."

A few hours later, the group was back in Hooverville with Laszlo more or less back to the way he had been before the whole mess. The only thing that the Doctor wasn't able to reverse were subtle changes. His nose was a little more pig-like, his eyes a little different and some of his teeth were a little longer than normal. All in all, nothing that couldn't be seen as normal.

Frank looked at Laszlo "If you wish, you're welcome to stay here. Hooverville will always be open for the two of you."

Laszlo smiled "Thank you. But I think I want to finally introduce Tallulah to my mother. I might have some explaining to do but… In the end, I have so much to be grateful for." He turned to the Doctor and Kaya "Thank you both… So much. This is more than I could have hoped for."

Tallulah wrapped her arms around Kaya's neck, pressing a kiss to her cheek before doing the same to the Doctor "Thank you."

"I didn't do much," Kaya shook her head, slipping her hands into the pockets of the Doctor's coat. She couldn't wait to change into normal clothes again, although it was nice to have the Doctor's scent around her all the time.

On the way back to the Tardis, Martha looked over her shoulder "Do you think it'll work out for Laszlo and Tallulah?"

"I don't know," the Doctor shrugged "I mean, his changes aren't that obvious, so I doubt they will have any problems at all. Especially not here in New York. That's what the city's good at after all. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses and the odd pig slave Dalek mutant hybrid too."

Martha sighed "It just proves it, I suppose," Martha sighed, glancing at the Doctor out of the corner of her eyes "There's someone for everyone."

The Doctor just stared out onto the cityscape, not even looking at her "Maybe," he shrugged.

Kaya tugged at the coat, uncomfortable with the situation all of a sudden "I'm just going to go and change," she mumbled, practically running into the Tardis and away from the Doctor. She knew that this wasn't the solution and he reacted way better than she could have asked for but a part of her was terrified that he wouldn't want her around anymore. There was also the matter of the Imprint. Should she tell him now? She still didn't feel ready and Martha's presence actually made her feel worse about it. Kaya knew that Martha liked the Doctor. It was more than a little obvious and the whole situation was slowly getting to Kaya.

"Kaya," the Doctor called out, trying to get the girl to stop.

He was about to follow her when Martha stopped her "So, what are you going to do now?"

"What are you talking about?"

Martha blinked "What am I talking about? Kaya turned into this giant wolf and you ask what I'm talking about?"

The Doctor narrowed his eyes "And what do you suppose I do now?"

"Bring her home? I mean, if you do then I can continue to travel with you, right?" Martha asked, not realising that she was digging her own grave at the moment.

"Are you actually listening to what you're saying?" the Doctor demanded, his voice low and dangerous "I'm not just going to drop Kaya off somewhere." He looked down the corridor Kaya had disappeared through, his eyes going a bit wide. What if Kaya thought the exact same thing? What if she thought that he would just drop her off somewhere and leave without looking back? Without another look at Martha, he hurried through the corridors, mentally begging the Tardis to show him where the other girl was.

Kaya was standing in the middle of the library, now changed into a pair of leggings and a sweatshirt. Her head turned to the side when she heard the Doctor come in "Hey," she whispered.

The Doctor stopped next to her "Are you alright?"

"Can we just get it over with?" she asked quietly "I…"

"Kaya," the Doctor sighed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders "I meant what I said back there. I don't care that you're – what? – a Shapeshifter? The only thing I actually want is for you to explain exactly how you are turning into a wolf. I heard of similar things but not actual Humans turning into animals."

Kaya sighed, leaning her head against his chest, telling her about the 'legends' of her tribe, of the Third Wife and the Cold Ones. About as much as she knew about everything now "I was never really part of the pack," she whispered, curling up on the couch they had moved to sometime during her story "I was the first-ever girl to shift and… Well, they didn't take it well. The other Shifters didn't like my younger brother and treated me like crap. Even so… I kind of miss hearing their voices when I'm shifted."

"Wait what… what do you mean by hearing their voices?" the Doctor frowned.

Kaya shrugged "Oh, the pack bonds. We can talk to each other when we're shifted and basically hear each other's thoughts. I think it annoyed them to basically share a mind with a girl but… I still miss it. It's so quiet now."

The Doctor let out a small noise "I know what you feel…"

"You mean… your people?" Kaya asked carefully, aware that he didn't like talking about it.

The Doctor nodded before deciding to change the subject again "Is that how you're telepathic?" the Doctor asked, filing the rest away for later "Because of the pack bonds?"

Kaya hummed "I think so, yeah."

He studied her for a moment and noticed that she wouldn't meet his eyes "That isn't the full story though, is it? You're leaving something out."

"I… Yeah," Kaya nodded "I'm sorry. I never thought you'd take this whole thing as well as you did and…."

The Doctor grinned "Well, we'll just have to get to know each other better, then, don't we?"

"I guess we do," Kaya smiled lightly.

There was a moment of silence before the Doctor cleared his throat "I'm bringing Martha home later."

She blinked "Really? What made you decide that?"

"The way she reacted to you," he admitted "She was telling me that now that you revealed your wolf, I would drop you off and take her along. The way she treated you was utterly unfair and… I don't know. She is smart, I give her that but I don't think she fits, you know?"

Kaya patted his arm "You don't have to explain yourself. I get what you mean. I think we could have been friends if things had worked out differently but… I don't know. Maybe it's my fault though."

"It isn't," the Doctor shook his head "You did nothing wrong. Not that I can see… So, how about you find something to read and we can stay in here for a bit before taking Martha back?"

Kaya jumped up immediately and walked over to where she had seen the Fantasy books. A quick sweep of the shelves revealed 'The Amulet of Samarkand' by Jonathan Stroud. She hadn't had the time to really read it since university was keeping her pretty much busy during the weekdays and on weekends, she was always out on patrol. On the way back, another book series caught her attention and she made a mental note to look at it some other time. She really did like Stroud as an author.

The Doctor took the book from her hands and raised an eyebrow "Stroud? You weren't kidding, were you?"

"No," Kaya shook her head with a sheepish smile "I really do like his works."

"Come on, then," the Doctor murmured, getting more comfortable. Kaya settled down next to him, leaning against his side to have a good look of the page even as the Doctor started reading out loud. They got through a few chapters when Kaya was almost asleep. The Doctor sighed contently at the positive feelings that were radiating through the bond "I think I finally found a nickname," he whispered.

Kaya hummed, not awake enough to answer him with words.

"What do you think about 'Lykos'?" the Doctor questioned "It means 'wolf' in Greek. I kind of like it, do you?"

"Love it," Kaya mumbled, snuggling into his shoulder some more.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One, the rest of Series 3 will be a little... choppy, I guess you could say. Some Episodes won't happen at all and others will be AU (like the Master Episodes). You'll see what I mean but since Martha won't be joining them.
> 
> Two, I made a Yahoo Group where my finished/deleted stories are in. The original Universal Vampire and An Original Vampire's Guide to the Universe will be in there as well once I take them down.
> 
> To find the group just search NicholasFlamelFan on groups_yahoo_com
> 
> The group is not public but you can join the group and I will add everyone who wants to join in once I get the notification.
> 
> I'm not the biggest fan of that, though but I think I'll try to code my own website as a side project. It might take me a while and stuff but I want to at least try. But for now, I'll leave the Yahoo Group online.
> 
> Nick

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so to make some things clear. The crack will be explained in a few chapters when she finds out that she's in another world but it's NOT the same as the crack that was in Amy's wall. Since those erase people from reality. This one obviously didn't do that, so they're not the same.
> 
> Nick


End file.
